A Palestinian from east Jerusalem was beaten by Israeli settlers and taken to hospital over allegations of stabbing an Israeli man on a busy main street of a central Israeli city Tuesday, police said. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the Palestinian stabbed another man who was waiting at a bus stop on the main thoroughfare of Raanana, a quiet city north of Tel Aviv. The Israeli was moderately wounded. Since the Jewish New Year last month, at least 26 Palestinians been killed by Israeli fire, including 10 identified by Israel as attackers and the rest in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops. Hundreds of Palestinians have been wounded in such confrontations. The unrest began last month with clashes at al-Aqsa mosque and quickly spread across Israel and into the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The stabbings have rattled Israel. The attackers, many of them teenagers, have had no affiliation with militant groups, and the seemingly random nature of the stabbings has made it difficult to predict or prevent them. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under heavy criticism for failing to stop the violence, and an opinion poll this week showed that more than 70 percent of the public is dissatisfied with his handling of the crisis. Some of the attacks have been carried out by members of Israel's Arab minority. In a fiery speech to parliament, Netanyahu accused the country's Arab leaders of helping incite weeks of violence, accusing Arab parties of "undermining" the country and calling on Israel's Arab citizens to "kick out the extremists among you." The violence erupted over the Jewish New Year last month, fueled by rumors that Israel was plotting to take over al-Aqsa mosque. The rumors ignited clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian activists who hurled stones at them from inside the mosque, and the violence has spread. *The story was edited by Ahram Online. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/153822.aspx
