Israel convicts Palestine boy, 14

A Jerusalem court convicted a 14-year-old Palestinian on Tuesday of the attempted murder of two Israelis in a knife attack last October that was one of the most high-profile of a recent wave of violence.

The Jerusalem district court also found Ahmed Manasra guilty of inflicting severe injury in the attack he carried out at the age of 13 along with a 15-year-old cousin, officials said. The two stabbed and seriously wounded a 20-year-old and a 12-year-old boy in the Jewish settlement neighbourhood of Pisgat Zeev in annexed east Jerusalem. Hassan, the cousin, was shot dead by security forces, while Ahmed was hit by a car as they fled.

The trial was held behind closed doors because of Manasra’s age. The Jerusalem district prosecutor stressed “the fact the defendant is a minor does not change in the least the risk and danger his actions caused,” the justice ministry said. Manasra, an east Jerusalem resident, was the youngest Palestinian to be convicted by an Israeli civil court in the wave of violence that erupted last October.

A 12-year-old Palesti-nian girl, convicted of attempted murder was released from prison in April.