Security forces demolished the home of a suspect Friday who reportedly confessed to carrying out the stabbing attack against the Israeli-appointed mayor of El-Birch.
The suspect, Hamis Jodeh Faraj, 26, a resident of the Jalazoun refugee camp north of Ramallah, was arrested Thursday, two days after the attack took place.
The quick arrest was apparently facilitated by an identification of the attacker made by Mayor Hassan Tawil and his bodyguard.
Tawil, 75, is recovering from wounds in the heart and stomach at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Faraj was arrested at his home in a special operation of the Israel Defense Force and the General Security Service, a military spokesman said.
Faraj, who attacked Tawil out of nationalist motives, has been jailed several times in the past for participating in the unrest in the Israeli-administered territories, according to the spokes-person.
A curfew was imposed on the Jalazoun camp Friday as the security forces demolished the three-room house where Faraj lived with his 60-year-old mother.
Brig. Gen. Gabi Ofir, acting IDF commander in the West Bank, said the demolition was meant to demonstrate to Arab public servants that “we stand behind them all the time, and will not allow them to be harmed.”
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