Israel sentences Palestinian to 17 years in prison over alleged stabbing attack

Rasa - An Israeli court has sentenced a young Palestinian man to 17 years in prison on alleged charges of carrying out a stabbing attack in the Israeli-occupied territories.

News ID: 441508

Date: 13 November 2018 - 14:12

RNA - The Israeli court's verdict comes at a time that tensions continue in the occupied Palestinian territories in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital and relocation of the US embassy to the occupied city.

The lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club Khaled Mahajna said the court in the city of Lod, situated 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) southeast of Tel Aviv, passed the ruling on 20-year-old Malik al-Sa’ada on Monday.

Mahajna added that the court also ordered the Palestinian youth, who is a resident of the southern West Bank city of Halhul, to pay 35,000 Israeli shekels (approximately $9,530) in fine.

Israeli forces arrested Sa'ada in al-Khalil (Hebron) on March 28, 2017, under the pretext of carrying out a stabbing in Lod.

On December 21 last year, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution that calls on the US to withdraw its controversial policy shift.

Despite the vote, the US went ahead with the embassy transfer on May 14, triggering demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco and other Muslim countries.

Israel’s crackdown in Gaza left over 60 protesters dead in the impoverished coastal enclave on that day alone.

Angered by Trump’s move, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas boycotted his administration, saying Washington is no longer qualified to serve as the sole mediator in the decades-long conflict with Israel, and that an international mechanism should be devised to replace the US in the so-called peace process.

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