Tag Archives: Violence

Palestinians turn to makeshift guns in escalation of street violence

By Dan Williams and Ismael Khader

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – During previous rounds of Palestinian violence, Israeli raids on the occupied West Bank would turn up small arsenals of military assault rifles. Now hauls more often include what look like toy guns and the tools required to make them lethal.

After years of seizures that have choked the supply of unlicensed M-16s and Kalashnikovs in the territory and raised black-market prices, some Palestinians are turning to improvised firearms to carry out street attacks on Israelis.

Five months into a series of killings by Palestinians that have mainly involved stabbings and car-rammings, some are stepping up the assaults by using such makeshift guns.

This escalation could pose problems for authorities on both sides, who are seeking to keep the bloodshed from spilling over into another uprising that could draw in armed Palestinian factions and trigger sweeping Israeli crackdowns.

The shift was illustrated by the haul from an Israeli raid on a foundry in the occupied West Bank this week; photos released by Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service showed a sniper rifle held together by duct tape, a Wild West-style long gun with a silencer welded on, as well as a lathe machine tool.

The foundry may be a testament to the effectiveness of past raids, by both Israeli and Palestinian security services.

“A genuine M-16 now costs 60,000 to 70,000 shekels ($15,000-$18,000) on the street, whereas an improvised gun can cost as little as 2,000 shekels ($512),” one Palestinian with knowledge of the trade told Reuters. “For a young person looking to carry out an attack with limited resources, the choice is obvious.”

The crudity of the cobbled-together guns may offer scant comfort to Palestinian and Israeli security officials.

Palestinian leaders and international powers have already said Israel has often used excessive force against assailants, many of them youths, though Israel has rejected this, saying it has prevented lethal attacks on civilians and security forces.

Security experts cautioned that Israel was likely to be even less restrained should its forces or citizens come under regular attack with guns, regardless of how lethal they are.

“It’s one thing for a soldier to face someone who is trying to stab him with scissors, quite another to face a gunman – he can never know whether if there is more ammunition, if the gun is still a threat, so he is likelier to shoot,” said Amy Ayalon, who headed the Shin Bet between 1996 and 2000, when the last Palestinian revolt against Israel erupted.

“So the response, on site, tends to be harsher, and the political echelon will be forced to back it up.”

OVER 200 KILLED

Palestinian attackers have killed 28 Israelis and a U.S. citizen since October. Israeli security forces have killed at least 172 Palestinians, 114 of whom Israel says were assailants, while most others were shot dead during violent protests.

Tensions have been stoked by various factors including a dispute over Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound and the failure of several rounds of peace talks to secure the Palestinians an independent state in Israeli-occupied territory.

Palestinian leaders have said that with no breakthrough on the horizon, desperate youngsters see no future ahead. Israel says young Palestinians are being incited to violence by their leaders and by Islamist groups calling for Israel’s destruction.

Two Palestinians who killed an Israeli policewoman and wounded another in Jerusalem last month before they were shot dead were armed with improvised guns known as “Carlos”, Israeli authorities said.

Carlos – simple knock-offs of Swedish-made Carl Gustav machine-pistols made in metal foundries – are among the cheapest makeshift guns to buy on the black market, say the authorities.

According to one Israeli security source, the relatively low Israeli death toll in the attack was partly due to the gunmen’s failure to fire rapidly, possibly due to the Carlos jamming.

Israel is also holding two Palestinian brothers from the West Bank city of Hebron for four gun attacks that wounded two soldiers and two civilians. The Shin Bet says they used a Carlo and an improvised sniper rifle with a silencer fashioned out of an oil can as instructed by a video they found on the Internet.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Security Services in the West Bank said they were aware makeshift weapons were being manufactured there.

“Making weapons locally is common everywhere in the world and we are moving against the sources of such weapons because they represent a risk,” Adnan Al-Dmairi told Reuters.

Improvised guns can be air-rifles converted to shoot real bullets rather than pellets, the Palestinian source said. According to one Shin Bet official, some West Bank armourers cannibalize parts from broken M-16s or Kalashnikovs and reassemble them as workable composites, with missing components manufactured in private workshops. These can sell for around 5,000 shekels ($1,280) on the Palestinian black market.

“Obviously such weapons will not be as reliable as a complete factory-made gun,” the Shin Bet official told Reuters. “Most of the recent gun attacks employed improvised firearms. It appears that in many cases they malfunctioned.”

(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Pravin Char)

UNICEF: 1 in 8 Children Born into Conflict Zones

One in every eight global births this year has occurred in a conflict zone, according to UNICEF.

The United Nations Children’s Fund said Thursday that more than 16 million children entered the world in a territory marred by conflict in 2015, which amounted to one every two seconds.

The recently published statistics provided an alarming glimpse into the effects that conflict have on children worldwide, as well as the role that violence has played in the ongoing migrant crisis.

UNICEF reported that more than 250 million children — about a ninth of the global child population — are currently living in conflict zones. Another 200,000 sought asylum in the European Union between January and September of this year as their families fled violence.

The world hasn’t seen a level of displacement like this since World War II, UNICEF said.

The Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, which analyzes conflict throughout the globe, reported there were 46 highly violent conflicts in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s up a tick from 45 in 2013, and far ahead of the 24 such conflicts of 2005.

Some of the notable nations currently experiencing conflict are Afghanistan, Iran, South Sudan, Yemen and Syria, where an ongoing civil war has driven millions of people from their homes. But children born into those and other conflict zones face additional challenges beyond violence.

UNICEF reported that more than 500 million children live in extremely flood-prone areas, while another 160 million live in areas known to experience high or severe droughts. Healthwise, children in conflict zones are more likely to die before the age of 5 and they also have a higher risk of experiencing extreme stress, which can stunt their cognitive and emotional development.

A Teacher at a Jewish School Stabbed in France by ISIS Supporters

On Wednesday night, a teacher at a Jewish school in the southern French city of Marseille was stabbed by three people who yelled anti-Semitic and pro-ISIS obscenities. The teacher survived the attack.

Reuters reports that the three attackers were on two scooters and approached the man in the street. One of them wore an Islamic State t-shirt while another showed pictures of Mohamed Merah – a man who killed 7 people in France in 2012 before being shot by police – on his phone to the victim. They stabbed the teacher three times in the arm and leg.

“The three people insulted, threatened and then stabbed their victim in the arm and leg. They were interrupted by the arrival of a car and fled,” Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin told Reuters.

BBC News reports that police are looking for the attackers.

Since the attacks in Paris last Friday that led to the deaths of 129 people, France has been in a state of emergency.

Three Israelis Killed in Latest Attacks in Tel Aviv and West Bank

Israel police told BBC News that at least three Israelis were killed Thursday morning in attacks by Palestinians that took place in Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank.

Two of the victims were stabbed to death by a Palestinian man at the entrance of a shop in Tel Aviv. The shop also functions as a synagogue. Hours later, a second attack killed another Israeli in a drive by shooting incident.

So far, an official death toll has not been released as multiple news agencies including Haaretz and Fox News are reporting 5 deaths while other agencies are reporting only 2 or 3.

Police officials told Reuters that the first attacker was apprehended.

Dozens of Palestinians and 15 Israelis have been killed since the new wave of violence began in two months ago. Most of the Palestinian deaths were from attackers that were shot by police or were killed in clashes with troops in the West Bank.

Man with Sword Attacks Swedish School; 2 People Killed

Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/TT News Agency

On Thursday, a masked man with a sword attacked a Swedish school in Trollhattan, killing one teacher and one student.

USA Today reported that the student died from his injuries at the hospital, and the teacher died at the scene of the crime after being stabbed. Another teacher and student were injured in the attack and reportedly are in serious condition at the local hospital in Trollhattan, according to CNN. The attacker was fatally shot by police and later died in the hospital.

“This is a dark day for Sweden,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. “My thoughts go out to the victims and their families, pupils and staff, and the entire community that has been affected. There are no words to describe what they are going through right now.”

The incident started in a cafe section of the school that serves around 500 students ranging between the ages of six and fifteen. According to NBC News, students thought the masked man was part of a Halloween-related prank or event; students even took pictures with the man before the attack. Afterward, the man began knocking on doors in the hallway and stabbing whoever answered.

At this time police are investigating a possible motive, and they are not ruling out the possibility of this being an act of terrorism.

U.N. Chief to Visit Israel and Palestine to Calm Tensions

In an attempt to calm tensions between Israel and the Palestinian territories, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be visiting the area, despite the waves of violence that has plagued the area for about a month.

The violence began about a month ago over tensions concerning policy changes to the Temple Mount, a holy site for both Jews and Muslims. Then stabbings began happening in Arab neighborhoods East of Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel. The escalation in violence has prompted some to believe that a third Palestinian uprising may begin.

On Tuesday there were two more reported incidents. Israeli forces shot a Palestinian man after he stabbed an Israeli military officer. In the West Bank, a separate incident occurred where an Israeli man was killed after being run over by a truck. The Washington Post reports that Palestinians were throwing rocks at the man’s car. The Israeli man then exited his vehicle and began hitting Palestinian vehicles with a stick. He hit a passing truck that then ran over the man. The driver did turn himself in, claiming that the man’s death was the result of him trying to swerve out of the way.

Ban Ki-moon released a video prior to his Tuesday visit, asking for peace on both sides. During his visit Ban will be visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem.

Since the violence began, 40 Palestinians, including attackers, and 8 Israelis have been killed, according to BBC News.

Israel Increases Security to Battle Escalating Violence

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is keeping his promise to try and combat the escalating violence in Israel, by deploying extra soldiers in cities across the country and setting up roadblocks in Palestinian neighborhoods.

“Today we … decide on a series of vigorous steps in our fight against the sources of terrorism and incitement,” the Prime Minister said. “They will be implemented as quickly as possible.”

In an overnight session, Israel’s security cabinet authorized the security measures after Palestinians with guns and knives killed three Israelis and injured several others on Tuesday. The approved measures included increasing the ranks of the Israeli police, 300 new security guards for public transportation, and authorization given to police to surround “centers of friction and incitement” in Jerusalem.

Additional measures include “terrorists” having their permanent resident rights revoked and the government confiscating their property. Palestinian neighborhoods will be cordoned off, and Israeli authorities will have the ability to demolish homes of attackers with no rebuilding allowed.

“We’re taking things step by step, stage by stage,” said police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld. “We’re working carefully and cautiously in order to prevent and respond to any further attacks today in Jerusalem.”

Palestinian officials called the increase in security a collective punishment and condemned Israel’s actions. Human Rights Watch also disagreed with the new security measures.

“Locking down east Jerusalem neighborhoods will infringe upon the freedom of movement of all Palestinian residents rather than being a narrowly tailored response to a specific concern,” said Sari Bashi of Human Rights Watch.

Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he would be visiting the Middle East very soon to help calm the situation, but he did not state when exactly he plans to go.

Some have suggested that the violence is part of a third Palestinian uprising, also known as an intifada. Others dismiss this theory, saying it is unrest that is due to the absence of an progress toward peace.

“We’ve tried negotiations and it didn’t work,” a Palestinian youth in the West Bank city of Hebron told CNN. “So now we will fight.”

And the Israeli government is not going to give in.

“Israel will settle accounts with the murderers, those who attempt murder, and all those who assist them,” Netanyahu said. “Not only will they not enjoy their privileges, but we will exact from them the full cost.

“Anyone who raises his hand to harm us — will pay dearly. And we will not hesitate to use all means at our disposal to restore peace to the cities of Israel.”

Netanyahu Vows to Control Violence Day before “Day of Rage” Attacks

Hours after a teenage Israeli boy was stabbed and in critical condition on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed parliament and angrily accused Israel’s Arab lawmakers for helping incite the weeks of violence.

In past meetings, lawmakers from the Joint (Arab) list have walked out when Netanyahu has stood at the podium. Netanyahu has called for an investigation of several members of the Joint (Arab) list, including MK Hanin Zoabi. Netanyahu claims that she, among others, supports Palestinian acts of terror against Israelis.

“She said to a Hamas magazine just two days ago that the actions of individuals isn’t enough and there needs to be a real intifada,” he went on. “This is unbelievable, honored colleagues. A member of Knesset in Israel calls for wholesale terror attacks against Israeli citizens, and there’s nothing more justified than opening a criminal investigation against her.”

Netanyahu called out to the Arab citizens of Israel, asking them to “kick out the extremists among you.”

While Netanyahu did take action in parliament, many are putting Israel’s Prime Minister under heavy criticism for failing to stop the violence. An opinion poll this week showed that 70% of the public is unhappy with his handling of the situation.

The escalation of violence in Israel began a month ago with a rumor that Israel planned on taking over the Temple Mount, a holy site to both Muslims and Jews. Since then, the violence has spread from the Temple Mount to the Old City, West Bank, and Gaza Strip.

Despite the increase in security, the random nature of the stabbings have made it difficult for Israeli police to stop the attacks. Many of the attackers have been teenagers who are not affiliated with militant groups. Seven Israelis have been killed in stabbings, a shooting, and a stoning attack, while 27 Palestinians have been killed. Out of the 25, 10 were attackers.

It doesn’t seem the violence will stop any time soon. Reports say that on Tuesday, a Palestinian man armed with knives and a gun killed at least three people and wounded others in a wave of attacks in Jerusalem. Palestinian groups declared Tuesday a “Day of Rage.” Within an hour, another Palestinian man stabbed and wounded four other people in Raanana according to Israeli police.

The increased stabbings has raised speculation that Palestinians may be attempting another uprising intifada, showing how the citizens are frustrated over their leadership’s failure of achieving statehood.

Police reported that Netanyahu has scheduled a meeting at 3:00 p.m. to discuss new operational plans.

Violence Escalates; Sweeping Through Israel

At the beginning, the tension in Israel centered at the al-Aqsa the holy site for Palestinians otherwise known as the Temple Mount for the Jewish people in Jerusalem’s Old City.  Palestinians feared that Israel wants to change the status quo there and the violence began with a vengeance.  The cycle now has no answers as to the beginning or end and reports of what is causing the random stabbings and shootings throughout Israel depends on who you are speaking to at the moment.  It has become a never ending cycle.  

Four suspects were shot in three separate attempted stabbing attacks in Jerusalem on Monday, Israeli police said.

Extra police were deployed around the Old City as the latest wave of violence  blankets Israel and the West Bank show no signs of abating.

“To our shock and horror, the cruelty of murderers who attack innocent civilians and children on their way home from school knows no limit, confronting us all with a shocking form of evil,”Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement. “We must act swiftly and decisively.” So far, 23 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed.

Around 20 Israelis and more than 500 Palestinians have been injured.

A number of rocket attacks have been launched from Gaza in recent weeks amid an escalation in violence against Israeli security forces and civilians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.  

On Sunday, a pregnant Palestinian mother and her 3-year-old daughter were killed when their house in the Gaza Strip collapsed after an Israeli airstrike that allegedly targeted a Hamas weapons site.

Violence in Israel Intensifies; Death on Both Sides

The worst spell of civil unrest that has hit the region in years has resulted in several deaths of both Jewish and Arab citizens.

On Friday, a Jewish man stabbed and wounded four Arabs in south Israel. In the past 10 days, four Israelis have been shot or stabbed in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. At least a dozen Israelis have been wounded by knife and screwdriver wielding Palestinians in various Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv. Attacks have continued on both sides recently resulting in the deaths of four Arab men by a Jewish man in his 20s. A 14-year-old Jewish boy was wounded in a stabbing by a Palestinian while a woman believed to be Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli guard at a bus station.

There have been talks of a third Palestinian uprising after the death of three Palestinians who were killed by Israeli security forces in stone-throwing demonstrations. Many more Palestinians have been wounded in the same demonstrations.

The escalation in violence seems to be over the events at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. Palestinians fear that Israel is trying to change the status quo at the holy site. The current conditions are that Jews are allowed to visit the site, but only Muslim prayer are allowed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that conditions at the holy site are being changed, but his assurances have done little to keep the peace.

Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have called for calm and for Israeli security forces and Palestinian police to continue working together to restore order. However, signs indicate that the violence will continue.