Last update - 02:17 19/03/2008
Jerusalem rabbi in moderate condition after Old City stabbing
By Jonathan Lis
Rabbi Yechezkel Greenwald of Jerusalem's Ateret Cohanim yeshiva was stabbed in the neck yesterday morning near Damascus Gate in the Old City.
Greenwald, 49, was taken to Hadassah University Hospital Ein Kerem in good to moderate condition.
Greenwald was walking toward the yeshiva, located inside the Old City, when an unknown assailant approached him and plunged a knife into his neck and fled. According to the police investigation that followed, Greenwald did not see his attacker's face.
After removing the knife from his neck, Greenwald found a couple of police officers who summoned a Magen David Adom ambulance to the scene.
He was given first aid before being evacuated to hospital.
Attacker at large
A large police force searched for the attacker but he was still at large at press time last night.
A police spokesman said nationalistic motives were behind the attack. If that is the case, it would not be the first time that terrorists have targeted people associated with Ateret Cohanim.
Last August Ahmed Mahmoud Khatic of the Lower Galilee village of Kafr Manda grabbed the weapon of a yeshiva security guard and opened fire on him and a fellow guard.
In the ensuing exchange of fire between the second guard and Khatib, nine passersby were wounded before Khatib was killed.
In recent months, police officials have said they were expecting a resumption of stabbing attacks in East Jerusalem, as a result of the success of the security wall around Jerusalem in foiling the entry of terrorists and explosives into the city from the West Bank.