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Photos:
Mazmoriya crossing (File). Published by Maan News
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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces detained six Palestinians at a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, who were allegedly en route to Jerusalem to carry out an attack, according to an Israeli police spokesperson.

Micky Rosenfeld wrote in a statement that the six were detained from a vehicle after being stopped at the Mazmoriya crossing east of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank.

He said the suspects were making their way from Nablus in the northern West Bank to occupied East Jerusalem, and that a bag was found in the car that contained knives, stun grenades, and Molotov cocktails.

The crossing was subsequently closed and a bomb disposal expert was called in the area “to secure the scene,” he said. All six of the Palestinians were transferred for interrogations.

“The units prevented an attack from taking place and police and border police operations continue in all areas,” Rosenfeld wrote.

Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri wrote in a separate statement in Arabic that police had suspected the car after noticing it had different front and back license plates.

Scores of Palestinians have been detained in the past two years for alleged possession of knives since a wave of political unrest surged in the occupied Palestinian territory.

While Israeli leaders often point to Palestinian “incitement” as the cause of such cases, and often attempt to connect them to the so-called “war on terror,” Palestinians have instead cited the daily frustrations and routine Israeli military violence imposed by Israel's nearly half-century occupation of the Palestinian territory as main drivers for such incidents.