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At least two Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank and 16 Israelis were hurt on Thursday in a surge of violence that erupted amid Palestinian anger at a U.S. peace plan.
In Jerusalem, an Arab citizen of Israel was killed after he shot and slightly wounded an Israeli paramilitary border policeman at an entrance to the walled Old City, Israeli authorities said. "Other officers quickly responded with fire at the assailant and neutralized him."
A later statement said he was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity was not immediately clear.
The peace proposal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on January 28 would give Israel most of what it has sought during decades of conflict, including the disputed holy city of Jerusalem and nearly all the occupied land on which it has built settlements.
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Palestinians hurl stones at an Israeli soldier during an Israeli raid in Beit Jala in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, February 6, 2020. /Reuters Photo
With violence on the rise, the Israeli military said it was sending reinforcements to the West Bank, where Israeli troops in the city of Jenin shot dead a 19-year-old man during clashes. Palestinians said he had thrown rocks at soldiers who came to demolish the home of a Palestinian involved in the 2018 killing of a Jewish settler.
In a separate incident in Jenin, a Palestinian officer in the police station was killed by what Palestinian authorities said was Israeli gunfire. Israeli officials did not comment, and Israeli media reported he was shot by troops by mistake.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Israel for the deaths, linking them to what Trump has billed as the "deal of the century."
Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner, the face of the U.S. plan, said Abbas bore some responsibility for the surge in violence.
"I think he does have responsibility," Kushner said of Abbas moments after briefing United Nations Security Council ambassadors on the plan's details. "He calls for days of rage in response and he said that before he even saw the plan."
Kushner added that he met personally with Abbas four times as he was crafting the proposal, but "they chose not to meet with us again."
The Palestinians, who have long shunned the Trump administration, accusing it of bias toward Israel, say the plan falls far short of their demands for a viable independent state and other rights.
Israel supports the Trump plan. The Arab League opposes it, while the European Union has rejected parts of it.
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An Israeli policeman surveys the scene of an incident, which police described as a suspected Palestinian attack with a car injuring a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem, February 6, 2020. /Reuters Photo
Visiting Israeli security forces in the West Bank after Thursday's incidents, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also accused Abbas of inciting violence.
"We will do everything necessary to protect our security, to define our borders and to ensure our future," Netanyahu said in a statement. "We will do it with you or without you.”
On Wednesday, Israeli troops shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian elsewhere in the West Bank, saying he had thrown a firebomb at them during a violent protest against Trump's plan. He was the first fatality since the blueprint was announced.
The Israel-Gaza border has also been shaken by several days of violence.
Palestinians have launched mortar fire, rockets and balloon-borne explosives into Israel, causing panic but no serious casualties. Israel has carried out nightly air strikes against sites belonging to Gaza's Islamic Hamas movement.
(With input from Reuters)
