Soldiers in Hevron
Soldiers in HevronIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Alert Border Police officers thwarted an attempted terrorist attack at the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Ma'arat Hamachpelah) in Hevron on Saturday night.

At 2 a.m. an 18-year-old Arab youth from the Abu Sneineh neighborhood of Hevron approached a security checkpoint outside the tomb brandishing a large kitchen knife and screaming.

The two men stationed at the checkpoint immediately took action, adhering to the standard procedure for arresting suspected terrorists, which includes firing warning shots. The knife-wielding man was arrested and taken to a local police station.

“As soon as they aimed their guns at him, he stopped immediately,” a Border Police commander related.

The young attacker was later identified as a local man who was released from prison two months earlier.

Arab teenagers living under the Palestinian Authority have occasionally deliberately sought to be arrested by Israel in order to avoid an abusive home life or other problems at home.