Jerusalem // A Palestinian man rammed a minivan into a crowded train stop in East Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing a policeman, in the latest incident to ramp up tensions in the contested city.
The minivan driver then attacked people with an iron bar after leaving the vehicle, killing one person and injuring 13 before he was shot dead by police.
The attack followed clashes at Al Aqsa Mosque compound between police and Palestinians protesting a visit to the site by a group of Jewish activists.
Dozens of Israeli officers raided the compound, firing stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets to disperse Muslim worshippers, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported, citing Palestinian guards at the site.
Israeli police said they entered the compound and pushed the demonstrators inside the mosque, entering “several metres” inside to remove blockages set up by the protesters in order to lock them inside.
The escalating tensions in Jerusalem prompted a warning from the UAE that Israeli actions in the city, in particular, the desecration of the sanctity of Al Aqsa Mosque, could trigger a third Palestinian intifada.
“It is high time to stop Israeli violence in Jerusalem and we should all work together and use all means towards that end,” Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, told ambassadors from UN Security Council members in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel for consultations in a gesture of protest over the police action at the mosque, and said it would submit a complaint to the Security Council.
Under a longstanding arrangement with Israel, Jordan retains custodial rights over Muslim holy sites in the Old City.
Israeli police said the protesters had stayed in the mosque overnight to try to prevent the visit by Jewish hardliners, and started hurling stones and firecrackers when police opened the entrance used by non-Muslims.
Israeli security forces briefly closed access to the Al Aqsa compound following the clashes. Similar restrictions were imposed last week and have helped to fuel Palestinian anger in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said three people had been wounded by rubber bullets and another 15 people had been treated at the scene for light injuries.
The planned visit by Jewish nationalists was timed to take place a week after the attempted assassination of a right-wing rabbi, Yehuda Glick.
A Palestinian man suspected of shooting Mr Glick was shot and killed by Israeli troops the next day. As clashes broke out over the incident, Israel temporarily closed all access to Al Aqsa, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims.
Tensions have soared over demands by Jewish hardliners to be able to pray inside the mosque compound and the expansion of Israeli settlement activity in occupied East Jerusalem.
Police identified the driver of the van attack on Wednesday as Ibrahim Al Akari, a 38-year-old Palestinian, from East Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp, and said he had recently been released from prison after serving time for security offences.
The Hamas militant movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, said Al Akari was a member of the group.
It was the second such assault in East Jerusalem in the past two weeks. On October 22, a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood drove into a group of commuters waiting for a train, killing a woman and a child. He was shot dead by Israeli security forces immediately afterwards.
“Jerusalem residents are under severe pressure from the Israeli government and these attacks are to be expected,” said Ahmed Rafiq Awad, a political scientist at Al Quds University. “The Palestinian leadership doesn’t want an escalation, but the decision is not in the hands of the leadership, the people will decide.”
Tensions in the city have been mounting in recent months, spurred by the killing of Jewish and Arab teenagers, the 50-day conflict in Gaza, and Israeli settlement plans.
Hours after the minivan attack in East Jerusalem, three soldiers were run down in another car assault in the occupied West Bank as they stood guard outside El Arub Palestinian refugee camp, south of Bethlehem.
“One is in critical condition, two with moderate wounds,” army spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said on his official Twitter account. The driver fled the scene.
* With reporting from Bloomberg News, Wam, Associated Presse and Agence France-Presse
