An Israeli court on Wednesday sentenced an east Jerusalem Palestinian to 30 years in prison for 10 counts of attempted murder, court documents showed. Aziz Oweissat, 50, was found guilty of attempts including an axe attack on a 73-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish man near Jerusalem's Old City and the detaching of gas pipes at several homes in the city with the aim of blowing up their Israeli occupants. During his trial, Oweissat said the attacks were carried out in revenge for the actions of Israeli authorities at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews. The compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, was the focal point of tension and violence in the Holy City last year, leading to several Palestinian attacks that killed a number of Israelis. The attackers were shot dead by security forces. Palestinian Muslims accuse Israeli Jews of trying to take over the Al-Aqsa compound. Jews are allowed to enter the site but not to pray there, and entry is controlled by Israeli security forces.
