Three Palestinian Teens to Be Charged With Attack on Jerusalem Women

Three Palestinian teenagers, ages 16 and 17, will be charged in relation to an attack in which two women were stabbed near the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem three weeks ago, police said Monday. The two women were moderately injured in the attack, on May 10.

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Five women in their seventies were walking on the path that day between the promenade and the Peace Forest, not far from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukabber. As they passed two Palestinian youths sitting on a bench, the teens apparently attacked them and stabbed two of the women, who were evacuated to the hospital.

The Jerusalem police and the Shin Bet security service immediately launched an investigation, and 11 days ago, three suspects, ages 16-17, all from Jabal Mukabber, were arrested. The three apparently planned in advance to carry out an attack and also discussed it on Facebook.

The mother of one suspect had been arrested a week before the incident, when she was found to be carrying a knife with the apparent intent of carrying out a stabbing attack at the Hazeitim checkpoint at the entrance to Jerusalem.

On the day of the assault, the three Palestinian teenagers allegedly met at a grocery store in their neighborhood, and set out for the Peace Forest with a knife and an ax, with the apparent intent of attacking Jews.

One of the teens decided to leave the scene beforehand for fear that if caught, his actions would lead to demolition of his family’s home. The remaining two youths apparently attacked the women with the knife and the wooden shaft of the ax before fleeing to their village.

The police investigation found that after the attack, the two continued to correspond and plot another such assault, but were arrested before they were able to carry it out.