Palestinian intelligence official implicated in stabbing attack

A Palestinian intelligence officer was reportedly behind an attempt to stab an Israeli soldier and a pedestrian near Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Thursday.

Palestinian sources told Haaretz that the assailant behind the attack is 37-year old Mazan Hasan Ariva of Abu Dis, who previously worked for the Palestinian Authority.

A 47-year-old Israeli was seriously wounded and a 20-year-old Israeli soldier was lightly wounded.

The army said the violence occurred at the village of Hizmeh, north of Jerusalem.

"A gunman stopped at a checkpoint near Hizmeh, exited his vehicle and shot forces at the site," an army statement said.

"The forces responded, shooting the attacker and resulting in his death."

The PA and Palestinian security forces have yet to respond to the allegation that the attacker is from their ranks.

The shooting is the latest in a series of violent attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Two Palestinians attempted to stab an Israeli soldier and a pedestrian in separate attacks near Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday, authorities said, but both attackers were shot dead.

The incidents came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas shared a rare handshake at a global climate conference in Paris, but no substantial talks were reported.

Tuesday's first incident occurred near the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem, the site of a series of recent attacks.

A Palestinian brandishing a knife attempted to stab a pedestrian at a junction near the settlement bloc and was shot dead by an Israeli soldier, police and the army said.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead Palestinian as 16-year-old Mamoon Raed Muhammed al-Khateeb.

Later in the day, in the northern West Bank, a young Palestinian woman who sought to stab a soldier near the Israeli settlement of Einav was shot and killed by the serviceman, the army said.

Palestinian police sources identified her as 19-year-old Maram Hassouna, a university student in Nablus who had previously served two years in prison for another attempted knife attack.

Violence since October 1 has left 103 dead on the Palestinian side, including an Arab Israeli, as well as 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean.

The stabbings, shootings and car rammings are believed to have mainly been carried out by "lone wolf" attackers who have defied calls for peaceful resistance to Israel's occupation.

Many of them have been young people, including teenagers, reflecting anger and lost hope over Israel's occupation, the Palestinians' fractured leadership and the complete lack of progress in peace efforts, analysts say.

Early on Thursday Israeli troops demolished the home of a Palestinian the army said organised the fatal attack that sparked the current unrest, the shooting of a Jewish settler couple as they drove in the northern West Bank with their young children.