Palestinian Given 18 Years' Jail For Stabbings

JERUSALEM, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Nov, 2016 ) - A Palestinian youth who stabbed and wounded two Israelis in October 2015 was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Monday, an Israeli court said.

Soubhi Abu Khalifa confessed to stabbing and seriously wounding an ultra-Orthodox Jewish student and lightly injuring a guard in northern Jerusalem, according to the ruling published by the court.

Khalifa, 19 at the time and originally from Shuafat refugee camp in annexed east Jerusalem, in May accepted an 18-year plea bargain agreed between the prosecution and the defence. Jerusalem district court ratified the agreement on Monday.

Another Palestinian youth accepted an 18-year plea deal for manslaughter, the court said. Abed Dawiat, 20, was accused of throwing stones at a car in September 2015 in east Jerusalem, causing the death of Israeli driver Alexander Levlovich.

His plea bargain still needs to be approved at a hearing scheduled for December. A justice ministry spokesman told AFP the courts generally approve sentences agreed between the prosecution and the defence.

Israel occupied Palestinian east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it. In a third case also decided on Monday, a Palestinian woman was sentenced to 15 years for stabbing an Israeli soldier, her lawyer said.

Maysoon Mousa, 22, from Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, was convicted of stabbing one soldier and attempting to stab a second at a checkpoint near her home in June 2015, lawyer Mohammed Shaheen said.

Since a wave of violence began in October 2015, 239 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed, according to an AFP count. The situation has calmed significantly in recent months.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some died in Israeli air strikes in Gaza.