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Border Police officers patrol a street in Jerusalem following an earlier terror attack at the Old City's Damascus Gate on February 4, 2016. Credit: AFP

Photo taken from social media of the three Palestinians shot dead after carrying out Wednesday's attack. Published by Maan
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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Three Palestinians were shot dead Wednesday after they killed an Israeli police officer and wounded another in an armed attack near Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem's Old City, Israeli police said.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an that “three attackers were shot dead at the scene” by Israeli Border Police after carrying out an attack with knives and an automatic weapon.

The three Palestinian youths had attracted the attention of Israeli Border Police officers as they approached Damascus Gate, police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said.

She said they were stopped by the officers, and as one showed their identification card, another pulled out a gun and opened fire. Two female Border Police officers were wounded and evacuated for medical treatment.

One of them, 19-year-old Hadar Cohen, was shot in her head and later pronounced dead at Hadassah Hospital.

A spokesperson for the hospital said that the other police officer, 18 years old, was in moderate condition, having received stab wounds across her body.

Explosive devices were later found near the site, which was cordoned off following the attack, Rosenfeld said, adding that Israeli forces carried out a controlled explosion of the devices.

Rosenfeld said following initial investigations that the three Palestinians were armed with three automatic weapons.

Witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli forces fired stun grenades and pepper spray near the Salah al-Deen Street and Al-Sultan Suliman streets near Damascus Gate to prevent Palestinians from approaching the area.

Witnesses added the forces also stopped a group of people and inspected them in a "humiliating" way.

The three Palestinians killed were identified as Ahmad Rajeh Ismail Zakarneh, Muhammad Ahmad Hilmi Kamil, and Najeh Ibrahim Abu al-Rub from the village of Qabatiya near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an following the attack that Israeli military forces were conducting "additional security checks" on Palestinians entering and exiting the village.

Israeli media reported that two of the three were barred from entrance into Israel and that all three had crossed over illegally. Israeli media reports also said none of the three Palestinians were affiliated with any political organization.

A Palestinian Authority police officer was shot dead earlier this week after he opened fire on Israeli soldiers stationed at an Israeli military checkpoint near the Beit El settlement north of Ramallah in the West Bank.

The attack came shortly after a 17-year-old Israeli was stabbed and injured in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday. Israeli police reported that a 16-year-old Palestinian from an East Jerusalem neighborhood later turned himself in claiming responsibility for the attack.

A wave of attacks carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military and civilians first began in occupied East Jerusalem in October before later spreading to the West Bank.

Jerusalem's Old City had seen a brief period of relative quiet in January, with the last deadly attack taking place there on Dec. 23.

Two Palestinians from Qalandiya refugee camp were shot dead during the incident, after they carried out a stabbing attack outside of the Old City's Jaffa Gate.

The attack left one Israeli dead and another injured, while Israeli media reported that a third Israeli was accidentally shot at the scene by Israeli Border Police and later succumbed to their wounds.

Efforts by actors in the international community to quell recent violence and return Israeli and Palestinian leadership to negotiations have so far failed.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon meanwhile last month criticized Israeli policy, saying that it was "human nature" for Palestinians to react violently to Israel's nearly 50-year military occupation.

Moon condemned the series of violent attacks carried out by Palestinians in recent months, but said that Israeli security measures were failing to "address the profound sense of alienation and despair driving some Palestinians -- especially young people."
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by Amos Harel for Haaretz

Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a border policewoman in Jerusalem was one of the first attempts by Palestinian terrorists in the current confrontation to carry out a complex, sophisticated attack.

Instead of targeting the nearby Jalameh checkpoint on the Green Line, the three youngsters from the West Bank township of Qabatiya chose a target in the capital’s Old City, probably assuming it would resonate more strongly. They were armed with submachine guns and improvised explosives, in addition to knives.

Only the swift response by a Border Police detail, which thought the three looked suspicious, prevented more casualties at Damascus Gate, as the incident ended with the death of Hadar Cohen and moderate injuries to her colleague.

Like most terrorists in the past four months, these three apparently didn’t belong to any organization. But in their case it was no longer a “lone wolf” attack – not only because it involved three men but because of the planning required. They acquired weapons, drove all the way from the north of the West Bank to Jerusalem and succeeded somehow to cross the separation fence without being detected.

This is the act of a local terror cell, even if it is not part of a known organization. It attests to a certain degree of daring and of learning from previous attacks. Setting out as a group and carrying firearms indicate that the assailants meant to attack more people, unlike in the recent stabling attacks. Apparently the explosives were also meant for this purpose, but the trio didn’t get a chance to use them.

The Shin Bet security service must now work to reenact the cell’s route and find out how they entered Jerusalem. If they came in armed, they must have used a breach in the security system around the separation fence. If they received the weapons in Jerusalem, their allies must be located. In any case, at this stage it’s hard to rule out the possibility that they received assistance.

The Shin Bet will also have to determine if the assailants’ preparations should have set off an early alarm among the Israeli intelligence branches. Israel has been trying for months to work out a system to intercept a lone terrorist, the kind who leaves at most a vague message on his Facebook page and sets out with a kitchen knife in his hand. But this time the attack appears to have been carried out by a somewhat more organized cell, which may have left signs signaling its intentions.

More than four youngsters from Qabatiya have been killed in recent months while carrying out stabbing attacks at the Jalameh checkpoint. The defense establishment has found in the past that militants from Qabatiya came from the same social circle, and that their chief motives were apparently to imitate their predecessors and avenge their deaths.

These same motivations may well have been behind Wednesday’s attack. Similar ties were found among five terrorists from the same clan in Sair village north of Hebron, and who were killed one after another while carrying out attacks in the region. It was also discovered that one of these assailants had left Sair for an attack after being a pallbearer at the funeral of his friend, who had been killed a day earlier.

Qabatiya has a long history in the Palestinian struggle. In 1988, not long after the start of the first intifada, the townspeople lynched a resident who had collaborated with Israel. This was followed by the murder of hundreds of West Bank Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. The IDF blockaded the township for weeks.
In the second intifada dozens of Qabatiya residents, mainly Fatah and Islamic Jihad activists, took part in attacks against Israel.

Wednesday's terror returned to Jerusalem after a few relatively quiet weeks. This will require police to continue beefing up their forces in the capital and along the separation barrier. The current, massive police presence has proved itself in the rapid response to attacks, like the one that took place on Wednesday.

However, despite the swift response, it was of questionable judgment to dispatch two new Border Police recruits to the Damascus Gate patrol, which runs near the sites of some 10 terror attacks of recent months. The two policewomen joined the army only about two months ago and hadn’t completed their combat training.

The IDF generally avoids posting novices in the territories at such an early stage of their training. Now it appears the police and Border Police will have to reexamine their policy in this matter.
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by IMEMC News & Agencies

Three Palestinians were shot dead on Wednesday, after they killed an Israeli police officer and wounded another during an armed attack near Damascus Gate, in occupied East Jerusalem's Old City, Israeli police said.
An Israeli police spokesperson said that “three attackers were shot dead at the scene” by Israeli Border Police after carrying out an attack with knives and an automatic weapon.

The three Palestinian youths had attracted the attention of Israeli Border Police officers as they approached Damascus Gate, another police spokesperson said.

According to Ma'an News Agency's report, they were stopped by the officers, and, as one showed their identification card, another pulled out a gun and opened fire. Two female Border Police officers were wounded and evacuated for medical treatment.

One of them, 19-year-old Hadar Cohen, was shot in her head and later pronounced dead at Hadassah Hospital.

A spokesperson for the hospital said that the other police officer, 18 years old, was in moderate condition, having received stab wounds across her body.

Explosive devices were later found near the site, which was cordoned off following the attack, It was added that Israeli forces carried out a controlled explosion of the devices. Additionally, following initial investigations, the three Palestinians were reportedly armed with three automatic weapons.

Witnesses said that Israeli forces fired stun grenades and pepper spray near the Salah al-Deen Street and Al-Sultan Suliman streets, near Damascus Gate, to prevent Palestinians from approaching the area.

Witnesses added the forces also stopped a group of people and inspected them in a "humiliating" way. The three Palestinians killed were identified as Ahmad Rajeh Ismail Zakarneh, Muhammad Ahmad Hilmi Kamil and Najeh Ibrahim Abu al-Rub, from the village of Qabatia, near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

The Palestinians have been identified as Ahmad Najeh Abu al-Rob, 21, Muhammad Abu Kamil, 20, both from Qabatia, and Ahmad Najeh Ismael, 22, from Jenin.

Israeli media reported that two of the three were barred from entrance into Israel, and that all three had crossed over illegally. Israeli media reports also said none of the three Palestinians were affiliated with any political organization.