PHOTO: Israeli security forces surround the body of a slain Palestinian man on Wednesday (Oren Ziv/AP)


Amid the worst violence in Jerusalem in years, Israel’s police have killed two more Palestinians, one of them after he reportedly stabbed an elderly woman.

More than 30 Palestinians have been killed in the last two weeks, while several Israelis have been slain in stabbing attacks.

In the latest incident, Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian man outside the Central Bus Station after he attacked a 70-year-old woman, who tried to board a bus to escape.

The deceased was identified as Ahmed Fathi Abu Sha’aban, 26, East Jerusalem. He was recently released from an Israeli prison after serving three years on terror charges. The woman was “moderately” injured with wounds to her upper body.

Earlier in the day, the police killed a Palestinian at the entrance of the Damascus Gate. Ma’an News Agency said the man was 20 years old and from Hebron in the West Bank.

Protests have surged again in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, after a relative lull following demonstrations, stabbings, and the killing of Palestinians by Israeli security forces in July. The tension has been fueled by Palestinian anger at possible visits by Jewish groups to Temple Mount, which includes the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and eventual partition of the area into Muslim and Jewish sections.

Some of the more than 30 slain Palestinians were attackers, but others were demonstrators. Seven Israelis have been killed in the stabbings.

See Palestine Feature: Israel’s Security Forces Kill 10 Palestinians in 24 Hours

Israeli troops have set up checkpoints at the exits of Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem following the Government’s adoption of new security measures. Six companies of soldiers deployed to urban areas alongside police.

Israel’s Security Cabinet also approved a proposal to withhold the bodies of those killed during attacks from their families.

Addressing Palestinians on television for the first time this month, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said in a recorded speech that he supported “peaceful and popular” struggle against Israel:

Peace, security and stability will only be reached when the occupation ends and an independent state is established with East Jerusalem as its capital….

We will continue our political, national and legal fight and we will not remain tied to agreements that Israel does not respect.