Last update - 00:00 30/12/2006
Nazareth man stabbed to death; biker injured in Jaffa shooting
By Roni Singer-Haruti, Haaretz Correspondent
Sharara Othman, a 42-year-old Nazareth resident, was stabbed to death on Monday night. In an unrelated incident earlier on Saturday, a Jaffa resident was seriously injured in a shooting.
Nazareth police have arrested several suspects in the stabbing, including the victim's brother. Othman was stabbed during a fight that broke out between his family and his brother's family in the eastern neighborhood of Nazareth.
Following the stabbing, Othman's condition was declared critical. He was transferred to the English Hospital in Nazareth, where he was declared dead.
Earlier, a 19-year-old Jaffa resident was shot while riding his motorcycle.
A preliminary investigation indicates that the man was riding with a passenger in Jaffa when an unknown gunman shot at them from a car that approached them in an intersection.
The motorcycle driver sustained a serious head injury. Later on Saturday his condition worsened and he was transferred in very serious condition to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. The passenger was not injured.
Police report that neither the injured man nor his passenger have a criminal record, and they are not known to the police.
Nonetheless, police will investigate the possibility that the background for the shooting was an ongoing conflict between criminals in Jaffa.