Attacks have continued in parts of
Jerusalem only hours after Israeli forces launched a major security
operation in Arab areas of the city.
On Wednesday morning police
blocked entrances to Jabal Mukaber, a district that was home to three
men accused of killing three Israelis on Tuesday.
Hours later, police said they shot dead a Palestinian who stabbed an Israeli woman at Jerusalem's main bus station.
A Palestinian also tried to stab a policeman near the walled Old City.
He too was shot dead by police, they added.
Since
the beginning of October, seven Israelis have been killed and dozens
wounded in shooting and stabbing attacks, the Israeli authorities say.
At
least 30 Palestinians have also been killed, including assailants, and
hundreds have been injured, according to the Palestinian health
ministry.
In other developments:
US State Department spokesman John
Kirby said the White House was "concerned" at "reports of security
activity that could indicate the potential excessive use of force" by
Israeli authorities
The White House and State Department
confirmed that Secretary of State John Kerry would travel to the region
soon, without giving more details
In an interview with the Jerusalem Post,
Mr Kirby tried to downplay comments made by Mr Kerry indicating he
believed Israel's settlements policy was to blame for the violence
Media captionJohn Kirby: The US is "concerned" about reports that say Israeli security forces are using excessive force#intafada - Is social media to blame? Can Israel and the Palestinians contain spiralling violence?
Speaking
for the first time since the upsurge in violence began, Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Israeli actions were "threatening
to spark a religious conflict that would burn everything".
He
also accused Israel of carrying out "executions of our children in cold
blood", highlighting the case of a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who was
shot by Israeli police after he and a 15-year-old stabbed an Israeli on
Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described
the Palestinian leader's comments as "lies and incitement", adding that
the boy was alive in hospital, the Jerusalem Post reports.
He said on Tuesday the new security measures were aimed at "those who try murder and with all those who assist them".
Media caption"Because
the attackers have been coming from East Jerusalem... the government
has felt the pressure to act", reports Jonny DymondImage copyrightAFP/Getty ImagesImage caption
Violence flared after the funeral of a Palestinian man in Bethlehem on Wednesday
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Violence was also reported along Israel's border with Gaza
On Tuesday night, Israel's security cabinet
authorised police to close or surround "centres of friction and
incitement" in Jerusalem.
It also announced that the homes of
Palestinians who attacked Israelis would be demolished within days and
never rebuilt, and that their families' right to live in Jerusalem would
be taken away.
On Wednesday morning, police said checkpoints were
set up at "the exits of Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods in East
Jerusalem".
Hundreds of soldiers were also deployed.
Human
Rights Watch warned that locking down parts of East Jerusalem would
"infringe upon the freedom of movement of all Palestinian residents
rather than being a narrowly tailored response to a specific concern".
On Wednesday, Israeli police and Palestinians
clashed in the West Bank city of Bethlehem after the funeral of a
Palestinian man killed in violence the previous day.
Clashes were also reported along the Israeli border with Gaza.
The
BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem says the violence, coming at a time
when peace prospects seem dim, has fuelled a sense of panic in Israel
and raised fears of a new Palestinian uprising, or intifada.
What is happening between Israelis and Palestinians?
There
has been a spate of stabbings of Israelis - several of them fatal - by
Palestinians since early October, and one apparent revenge stabbing by
an Israeli. The attackers have struck in Jerusalem and central and
northern Israel, and in the occupied West Bank. Israel has tightened
security and its security forces have clashed with rioting Palestinians,
leading to deaths on the Palestinian side. The violence has also spread
to the border with Gaza.
What's behind the latest unrest?
After
a period of relative quiet, violence between the two communities has
spiralled since clashes erupted at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site in
mid-September. It was fuelled by rumours among Palestinians that Israel
was attempting to alter a long-standing religious arrangement governing
the site. Israel repeatedly dismissed the rumours as incitement. Soon
afterwards, two Israelis were shot dead by Palestinians in the West Bank
and the stabbing attacks began. Both Israel and the Palestinian
authorities have accused one another of doing nothing to protect each
other's communities.
Is this a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising?
There
have been two organised uprisings by Palestinians against Israeli
occupation, in the 1980s and early 2000s. With peace talks moribund,
some observers have questioned whether we are now seeing a third. The
stabbing attacks seem to be opportunistic and although they have been
praised by militant groups, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has said
Palestinians are not interested in a further escalation.
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