Hundreds of police have been assigned to Northern Israel today, Sunday, 16 Marcheshvan to maintain order. The Arab sector declared a nationwide general strike today after police shot dead an Arab man who approached a police car armed with a knife in Kfar Kana in the Lower Galil.

Motzei Shabbos was accompanied by increasing Arab violence in the Shuafat area of Yerushalayim, in Yehuda and Shomron and in N. Israel. In one case, a three-year-old was injured in a rock-throwing attack.

The Israel Police Northern District remains on high alert, expecting a day of Arab violence. The Israel Police Internal Investigations Department has launched an investigation into the fatal shooting amid statements police could have restrained the armed main without firing at him.

In one of the motzei Shabbos attacks rocks were hurled at Jewish motorists on Route 60 in Shomron near Yishuv Shilo. A three-year-old boy sustained a light head injury in that attack. He was treated by Magen David Adom paramedics and transported to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Yerushalayim.

Earlier on motzei Shabbos, a number of passengers on a bus that was attacked with rocks near Ariel on Route 5 in Shomron were injured. The bus veered out of control as a result of the rocks and smashed into the guardrail. Those victims were transported to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah.

In the capital, border police were compelled to use teargas and rubber-coated bullets against violent protesters in Shuafat. Attackers also threw rocks at a Jerusalem light rail, smashing a number of windows.

Earlier on motzei Shabbos Arabs in N. Israel targeted a bus traveling on Route 65, near the Israeli Arab municipality of Um el-Fahm. At least one window was smashed and two passengers sustained light injuries. The bus was able to continue on its route following the attack.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on motzei Shabbos stated “Israel is a nation of law. We will not tolerate disturbances and rioting. We will act against those who throw stones, block roads and call for the establishment of a Palestinian state in place of the State of Israel. Whoever does not honor Israeli law will be punished with utmost severity. I will instruct the Interior Minister to evaluate revoking the citizenship of those who call for the destruction of the State of Israel.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)