A Palestinian man rammed a car into a group of Israeli pedestrians injuring five people including four female border police officers during the Jewish holiday of Purim, the Jerusalem Post reports.
Police consider the incident to be a terrorist attack, reporting that the driver swerved onto the sidewalk near a light rail station before emerging from the vehicle with a butcher knife trying to stab other people.
Israeli authorities have identified the suspect as 22-year-old Mohammed Mahmoud Abdel Razek Salaima from the Palestinian neighbourhood Ras al-Amud. Salaima has a criminal record and remains hospitalized in critical condition after a police officer at the scene shot him following the incident.
The alleged attack occurred in an area that has witnessed numerous Palestinian vehicular attacks in the past year that targeted Israeli pedestrians.
The incident takes place in context of a PLO Central Council conference that issued a statement praising previous Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis in Jerusalem and calling for popular resistance, the Middle East Media Research Service (MEMRI) reports.
"The Central Council congratulates our people who take part in the heroic intifada [violent uprising in Jerusalem] against the barbarism and brutality of the settlers and the occupation forces… To strengthen the steadfastness of Jerusalem and its heroic intifada, the Central Council calls upon all the political and national authorities in the city to allocate the funds necessary to reinforce the steadfastness of our people…" reads the PLO committee statement.
The Council also called for a suspension of security coordination with Israel, but the resolution requires the approval of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.
The PA and Abbas' Fatah faction systematically glorify Palestinian terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians and continue to encourage future attacks by explicitly inciting violence against Israelis and Jews.
Click here for a comprehensive list compiled by The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) featuring recent terrorist attacks targeting Israelis and examples of Palestinian incitement.