Since 13 September, 36 Israelis, as well as two Americans and an
Eritrean were killed in Palestinian attacks, (all but one by Israeli security forces), Additionally, a Sudanese attacker was killed. The
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recorded 167 'terrorist' attacks by Palestinians against Israeli civilians and security forces. In early September the mother also succumbed to her injuries.
September 2015 On 9 September, after talks with visiting British Prime Minister
David Cameron, Jordan's
King Abdullah II warned Israel, on 9 September, that "any more provocation in Jerusalem will affect the
relationship between Jordan and Israel." On 9 September, US
State Department spokesman
John Kirby, condemned "all acts of violence" at the Temple Mount and urged Israel not to lift restrictions for Jewish visitors or to disturb the "status quo" of the site. Tensions on the Temple Mount continued for three days, causing damage as Israeli police used tear gas and threw stun grenades toward Palestinian youths barricaded inside the mosque, hurling rocks and flares at police, a Reuters witness said. Israeli
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, in a statement, said the Palestinians also had
pipe bombs. On 13 September,
Alexander Levlovich who was driving in a Jerusalem neighborhood was killed by Palestinians who threw
stones at his car. This caused him to lose control of his car and crash into a utility pole. On 16 September, Abbas declared his support for Palestinian youths injured in clashes on the
Temple Mount, stating that "every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem is pure, every
shahid [martyr] will reach paradise, and every injured person will be rewarded by God." This led United States' Secretary of State
John Kerry to accuse Abbas of inciting violence. The IDF claimed that she had a knife on her. Amnesty published a report a few days later in which it called the incident an extrajudicial killing because Hashlamon didn't pose a threat when she was killed. In the following weeks, Hebron became a center of violent incidents and protests. On 24 September the
Security Cabinet of Israel approved new anti-riot laws. A modified order allowed security forces to shoot when the life of a third party is under threat. Before the change, Israeli soldiers facing rioters could open fire with live bullets only if their own life was in danger. The cabinet also ordered a minimum four-year jail term for anybody throwing dangerous objects and heavy fines on parents whose children threw stones as a temporary measure to be in effect for three years. A pay increase for border police throughout Jerusalem and the calling up reserve forces of police and Border Guard forces was also enacted by the security cabinet.
Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the
PLO, said that the new rules was "a mere pretext to justify the escalating Israeli crimes against the people of Palestine."
October 2015 69 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces in October. Of those, 51 were killed in the West Bank and 18 in the Gaza Strip. The IDF claimed that 43 of the Palestinians killed were attackers. 7,392 Palestinians were injured. and 115 injured. On 1 October, Hamas militants killed two settlers from the
West Bank. Netanyahu said that the attack was a "result of Palestinian incitement" that led "to an act of terror and murder" and criticized Abbas for not condemning the attack. The
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades,
Fatah's military arm, welcomed the attack and said it was "a worthy response" to the Duma arson attack in July. On 3 October, a Palestinian stabbed and killed two Israelis in the
Old City of Jerusalem before he himself was shot and killed by Israeli police. The attack caused controversy as BBC used the headline "Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two," apparently focusing more on the killed attacker rather than on his victims. The headline outraged the Israeli government which demanded an apology from the BBC. It warned that the network could face sanctions, threatening to annul its press cards in Israel, which in effect would have made it impossible for it to operate in the country. The network admitted that the headline was bad but said that it was written by a junior editor and not reflective of anti-Israeli bias. The headline was subsequently changed several times by the BBC. On 4 October, Palestinians except for those living in Jerusalem, businessmen and students were banned from entering the Old City for two days. Men under the age of 50 were also banned from praying at al-Aqsa. Israelis or foreign tourists were not affected by the ban. The move angered Palestinians and was condemned by
Amnesty as a violation of the right to
freedom of movement. On 8 October, Israel's Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had barred Israeli ministers and other politicians in Israel's parliament, the
Knesset, from visiting the Temple Mount. The decision was criticized both by Jewish and Arab politicians who said that they would defy his orders. Other politicians such as
Isaac Herzog of the opposition party the
Zionist Union welcomed the ban. Netanyahu also reiterated that his government had no intention of changing the Temple Mount "status quo." On 12 October, two Palestinian boys Hassan and Ahmad Manasra stabbed two Israelis in
East Jerusalem. The attack became a lightning rod for both Israelis and Palestinians because of the young age of the attackers, a viral clip from after the attack showing Ahmad laying in a pool of blood while being shouted at by settlers which spread on social media, and because Abbas erroneously claimed in a televised speech that Ahmad had been executed. On 16 October, the French newspaper
Le Figaro revealed that the French government was drafting a
Security Council statement calling for the deployment of international observers to Temple Mount to preserve status quo. The Israeli government rebuffed the proposal and Israel's envoy to the UN,
Danny Danon, said that Israel would never agree to the stationing of international forces at the site. On 17 October,
Jibril Rajoub, a senior member of
Palestinian Authority ruling party
Fatah said about the attacks that "they require heroism, courage, and a value system, which forces the Palestinian elite and the Palestinian national forces to see in the final words of one of those heroes, written in a blog, a document that could be taught in schools in a lesson about the meaning of martyrdom..." On 18 October, an Israeli
Bedouin shot and killed an Israeli soldier in a bus station in
Beersheba before he was killed by security personnel. An Eritrean asylum seeker, mistaken for a second gunman, was shot by police and then lynched by a mob which was filmed by a bystander. He later died of his wounds. Leaders of the Israeli Bedouin community condemned the attack, while ISIS, who the attacker thought to have been inspired by, praised it. It was the first attack of the conflict committed by a Bedouin. On 20 October, Israeli troops rearrested
Hassan Yousef, a senior Hamas figure in the West Bank, accusing him of "fermenting violence and conflict against Israel among the Palestinian public." On 20 October, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon made a surprise visit to Israel and called for both sides to restore calm. On 21 October,
Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel met with Netanyahu on to discuss the violence. She said that Germany expected Abbas "to condemn everything that constitutes an act of terror. One can't have open talks with Israel if this does not happen" and that "young Palestinians need a perspective and unilateral steps are not helpful". On 24 October the US
House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to cut financial aid to the Palestinian Authority by $80 million to "send a message" to Abbas to end the "incitement." The Chairman of the Committee,
Eliot Engel, said that the unrest was "the product of years and years of anti-Israel propaganda and indoctrination – some of which has been actively promoted by Palestinian Authority officials and institutions."
Speculations about a Third Intifada During October, analysts speculated on whether the unrest was, or would lead to, a Third Intifada – an organized uprising against the Israeli occupation. On 9 October,
Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas, declared that a new intifada had begun, but other Palestinian leaders refrained from following suit. Analysts questioned whether they would be able to contain the violence. According to Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog, who thought the events would lead to a Third Intifada, the Palestinian Authority tried to avoid an explosion "but on the ground, there's not much effect ... young people definitely aren't listening." According to Nohad Ali, a sociologist from the University of Haifa, there wasn't "yet" a Third Intifada. Other analysts noted that the unrest was different from previous Intifadas because it lacked both an organizational framework under an acknowledged political leadership and a clear set of goals. Grant Rumley of the
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies argued that because there was little Palestinian political endorsement of the violence, the chance of another uprising was low; "the likelihood of another uprising is roughly the same as it is on any other day in this blood-soaked conflict."
November 2015 On 23 November, two Palestinian girls, 14-year-old Hadeel Wajih Awwad from Qalandiya and her 16-year-old cousin Norhan Awwad from Kafr 'Aqab stabbed a man with a pair of scissors at the Mahane Yehuda Market on Jaffa Street in central Jerusalem who suffered light injuries to his neck. The victim turned out to be a 70-year-old Palestinian man from Bethlehem who the girls had mistaken for a Jew. The attack was stopped by a bystander who hit the older girl with a chair that knocked her to the ground. The younger girl then advanced on a policeman in the street while brandishing her scissors. The policeman killed her by shooting her several times even after she had slumped to the ground from the first shot. He also fired two shots into the motionless older girls chest. She sustained serious wounds and underwent surgery to remove the bullets from her abdomen. The killed girl's brother, Mahmoud Awwad, 22, had been shot in the head by an Israeli sniper during clashes near Qalandiya in 2013. He died five months later. According to the indictment against Norhan, the attack was meant to avenge his death. She was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison and fined 30,000 shekels. The attack caused some outrage as the killing of Hadeel was caught on security camera footage. In an open letter to Netanyahu, the Israeli human rights organization
B'Tselem claimed that it was an example of an extrajudicial killing, noting that "the death penalty for murder was abolished in Israeli criminal law in 1954, over 60 years ago." Kerry, on the other hand, alluding to the attack, defended Israel "Clearly, no people anywhere should live with daily violence; with attacks in the streets, with knives or scissors or cars."
December 2015 In early December during a debate in the Swedish parliament, Swedish Foreign Minister
Margot Wallström discussed the ongoing spate of violence in Israel and the Occupied territories. She accused Israel of extrajudicial killings, executing attackers without trial, and of disproportionate use of force. She also condemned the Palestinian attacks and said that Israel had the right to defend itself. The comments infuriated the Israeli Foreign Ministry who calling her words "scandalous, delusional, rude and detached from reality. The foreign minister suggests that Israeli citizens simply give their necks to the murderers trying to stab them with knives" and that "the citizens of Israel have to deal with terrorism that receives support from irresponsible and false statements like that." On 12 January, Wallström again suggested that Israel might be guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians and called for an investigation into the matter. The Israeli Foreign Ministry again responded harshly, claiming that Wallström's "irresponsible and delirious statements are giving support to terrorism and encouraging violence". Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel
Tzipi Hotovely declared that Swedish politicians of the rank of deputy minister and above are not welcome in Israel. She later clarified that it was only the Foreign Minister and her aides what were not welcome. On 9 December it was revealed that US Presidential candidate
Donald Trump would visit Israel and meet with Netanyahu on 28 December. Netanyahu was criticized for not cancelling the meeting because Trump a few days earlier had called for a
banning Muslims from entering the US. 37 MKs asked Netanyahu to condemn Trump and refuse to meet with him. Netanyahu in response said he rejected Trump's remarks about Muslims but that the meeting was planned two weeks ago and would go forward as planned. Trump, however, postponed the meeting until "after I become President" and later hinted that Netanyahu's negative response to the "Muslim ban" was the reason.
January 2016 In January, the
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the Palestinian attacks were driven by a "profound sense of alienation and despair" and that "it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism." He condemned the attacks but also said that Israel's settlement program, under which 153 new settler homes had recently been approved, cast doubt on its commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu responded harshly to the criticism and accused Ban of "encouraging terror," adding that Palestinians "do not murder for peace and they do not murder for human rights." Ban in response to Netanyahu's accusation wrote an
op-ed published in
The New York Times titled "Don't Shoot the Messenger, Israel.". In it he wrote that he would "always stand up to those who challenge Israel's right to exist" but that "when heartfelt concerns about short-sighted or morally damaging policies emanate from so many sources, including Israel's closest friends, it cannot be sustainable to keep lashing out at every well-intentioned critic." He also called for "Israelis, Palestinians and the international community" to recognize that the status quo is untenable and that "keeping another people under indefinite occupation undermines the security and the future of both Israelis and Palestinians." On 29 January, French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius announced an international peace conference to try and jump start an Israeli-Palestinian peace process. If the negotiations were unsuccessful, France would formally recognize the
State of Palestine. While the Palestinians, and later also the
Arab League, welcomed the "French initiative," the Israeli government rejected it, with one official sardonically asking "Perhaps France will push for peace process with ISIS next?" Netanyahu later clarified that he would prefer to hold direct talks with Abbas, without the involvement of the international community. Since Israel announced that it would not participate, the conference was to be held without any Palestinian or Israeli presence. First it was planned to be held on 30 May, but due to scheduling problems, it was postponed several times. It was eventually held in January 2017.
February 2016 In early February three Arab Israeli members of the Knesset (MK) from the
Joint List met with families of Palestinian attackers who had been killed by Israeli security forces. The three politicians claimed that the purpose of the meeting was to secure the release of the attackers bodies for burial. Israel often delays returning the bodies of attackers to their respective families, until they confirm the funerals will not be used to incite violence against Israelis. The meeting outraged other politicians in the predominantly Jewish Knesset. It was heavily criticized by both Netanyahu and the opposition leader
Isaac Herzog who said that the MKs "crossed a red line." The Ethics Committee of the Knesset suspended the three Arab Israeli MKs who had participated in the meeting;
Hanin Zoabi,
Basel Ghattas, and
Jamal Zahalka. On 17 February, nine
American congressmen and Senator
Patrick Leahy wrote a letter to the
US State Department inquiring about "specific allegations of gross violations of human rights" by the security forces of Egypt and Israel. They asked the State Department to determine whether the reports were credible and if so whether they would trigger the
Leahy Law, a law that can cause the suspension of military aid to countries found guilty of human rights violations. Netanyahu responded angrily when he became aware of the letter's existence on 30 March. He defended the IDF by saying that "the IDF and the Israel Police do not engage in executions" and adding that "this letter should have been addressed instead to those who incite youngsters to commit cruel acts of terrorism."
March 2016 Between 23 February and 4 April, 22 Palestinians were killed, of which two were in the Gaza Strip, while 518 were injured. In March, one American was killed and 26 Israelis were injured. The
Shin Bet recorded four attacks from the Gaza Strip; two rocket launches in which a total of five rockets were shot and two small arms shootings. 117 attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem; six shootings of which two occurred in Jerusalem, 9
I.E.D,, six stabbings of which one occurred in Jerusalem, two vehicular attacks, one attempted attack and 92 firebomb attacks (33 in Jerusalem). On 8 March, a US tourist,
Taylor Force, was killed and ten other people injured when a Palestinian man attacked people in Tel Aviv. The
Taylor Force Act, American legislation to stop economic aid to the Palestinian Authority until it stops paying stipends to individuals who commit acts of terrorism, was named in his honor. Also on 8 March, two Israeli police officers were wounded by an Arab gunman in
Jerusalem and an Israeli man was moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in
Petah Tikva. The victim managed to remove the knife from his neck and stabbed the attacker to death. One died immediately and the other remained badly wounded. A video published by
B'tselem showed a soldier aiming his weapon at the motionless attacker lying on the ground, and shooting him in the head. The video went viral on Israeli social media, sparking controversy.
April 2016 In April the
US State Department released its annual report into human rights abuses around the world. The report accused Israeli forces of "excessive use of force" and "arbitrary arrest and associated torture and abuse, often with impunity," by the IDF, the
Palestinian Authority, and Hamas and claimed that there were numerous reports of Israeli forces killing Palestinians when they did not pose a threat to life. It also criticized the Palestinian Authority for not condemning incidents of antisemitism and for hailing attackers who died while committing as martyrs. In response to the attack, the Israeli government suspended 83,000 Palestinian entry permits to visit families in Israel for
Ramadan, a move that was described as "collective punishment" by
Knesset member
Haneen Zoabi and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. The IDF imposed a closure over the entire West Bank and the
Gaza Strip in the wake of the attack, which was scheduled to end on 11 June after the end of Jewish holiday of
Shavuot. Palestinian Media,
Hamas and
PIJ celebrated the attack. On 30 June, a
Palestinian stabbed and killed 17-year-old
Hallel Yaffa Ariel while she was sleeping in her bedroom in the West Bank settlement of
Kiryat Arba. The assailant was fatally shot by security guards. That same day, a Palestinian assailant stabbed two Israeli civilians in
Natanya, north of
Tel Aviv and was shot dead by an armed civilian. On 1 July, Palestinian gunmen fired at an Israeli family's vehicle south to
Hebron causing it to flip over. The father of the family died while his wife and two daughters were injured.
PIJ said in a statement that: "the escalation in attacks against settlers reflects the persistence of the Palestinian intifada to continue". Throughout June 2016, 5 Israelis and 6 Palestinians were killed, while 21–30 Israelis and 167 Palestinians were wounded. The
Shin Bet recorded 1 attack from the Gaza Strip (small arms shooting), 100 attacks from the West Bank and East Jerusalem: 10
I.E.D (
Pipe bombs and an improvised grenade); 2 small arms shootings; 1 stabbing; 1 vehicular and 86
firebomb (29 in Jerusalem) attacks, and 2 attacks inside the Green Line (in Tel Aviv and Natanya). 1 Jewish attack was recorded: Two vehicles were set on fire and three were sprayed with anti-Arab hate speech in
Nazareth and
Yafa an-Naseriyye (in northern Israel). == See also ==