by Our Foreign Desk

ISRAELI troops have shot and killed a Jewish man in Jerusalem who they suspected was a Palestinian “terrorist.”

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that in the incident late on Wednesday, “the soldiers had high suspicions that he was a terrorist” and demanded his identity documents.

Mr Rosenfeld claimed that the man refused, scuffled with the soldiers and attempted to grab one of their guns. One of the soldiers shot the man, who died later of his wounds.

Meanwhile, four Israeli men were released on bail yesterday after appearing in court over the murder of an Eritrean refugee on Sunday.

The unarmed man was shot by a private security guard who thought he was a Palestinian who had opened fire at a bus station.

As he lay bleeding a mob of Israelis gathered around him, shouting abuse, kicking and beating him. Police said the victim died of his gunshot wounds.

And yesterday afternoon, Israeli police shot two Palestinians who allegedly stabbed an Israeli at a bus stop, killing one of them.

In the latest round of violence, 48 Palestinians and 10 Israelis have been killed.

Troops also placed a concrete barrier near Rachel’s Tomb in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. It is also known as the Bilal bin Rabah mosque and is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians.

Thousands are expected for a pilgrimage this weekend, potentially raising tensions.

At a meeting in Berlin yesterday with US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the killings, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to blame Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for supposedly “inciting” attacks on Israelis.

Mr Abbas had called during a meeting with UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon on Wednesday for peace and respect for Palestinians’ rights.

• Responding to Mr Netanyahu’s claim that the Mufti of Jerusalem spurred Hitler to exterminate Jews in the Holocaust, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Siebert said late on Wednesday that: “Responsibility for this crime against humanity is German and very much our own.”

And US political scientist Normal Finkelstein pointed out that attempting to shift blame for the Holocaust to other nations is a form of holocaust denial according to the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, of which Israel is a member.