A teenager has died and at least 18 others have been hurt after two explosions near bus stops in Jerusalem, in what police said were suspected attacks by Palestinians.

The first blast occurred near a bus stop on the edge of the city, where many commuters gather during rush hour. The second detonation took place in Ramot, a neighbourhood in the city’s north.

The victim was identified as 15-year-old Aryeh Shechopek, who was heading to a Jewish seminary when the blast went off, according to a notice announcing his death.

The apparent attacks came as Israeli-Palestinian tensions are high, following months of Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank prompted by a spate of deadly attacks against Israelis that killed 19 people. There has been a surge in Palestinian attacks in recent weeks.

The violence also comes as former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds coalition talks after national elections and is likely to form what is expected to be Israel’s most right-wing government.

Police said their initial findings showed that explosive devices were placed at the two sites. The twin blasts occurred amid the buzz of rush hour traffic and police closed part of a main highway leading out of the city, where the first explosion went off.

Video from shortly after the first blast showed debris strewn along the pavement as the wail of ambulances blared.

Yosef Haim Gabay, a medic who was at the scene when the first blast occurred, told Israeli Army Radio:

“It was a crazy explosion. There is damage everywhere here.

“I saw people with wounds bleeding all over the place.”

While Palestinians have carried out stabbings, car rammings and shootings in recent years, bombings have become very rare since the end of a Palestinian uprising nearly two decades ago.

The Islamic militant Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and once carried out suicide bombings against Israelis, praised the perpetrators of the attacks, calling it a heroic operation, but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif al-Qanua said: “The occupation is reaping the price of its crimes and aggression against our people.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, an extremist legislator who has called for the death penalty for Palestinian attackers and who is set to become the minister in charge of police under Mr Netanyahu, said the attack gave him the impetus to take a tougher stance on Palestinian attackers.

“It’s time to take a hard line against terrorists, it’s time to make order,” he tweeted.

More than 130 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year, making 2022 the deadliest year since 2006. The Israeli army said most of the Palestinians killed have been militants.

However, stone-throwing youths protesting against the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

At least five more Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks in recent weeks.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to admit an Iranian diplomat to head an office representing Iranian interests in the kingdom, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported on Sunday, in a rare move after the rivals broke off relations in 2016.

“An informed diplomatic source said Sunday that Saudi Arabia had agreed to grant a visa to the head … of Iran’s interests section,” IRNA reported. “Observers saw this … as a positive diplomatic step in Tehran-Riyadh relations.”

The office is expected to be set up within the Swiss diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia, based on an agreement signed in 2017.

There was no immediate official Saudi reaction to the Iranian report.

The kingdom, the regional rival of mostly Shi’ite Iran, presents itself as the guardian of Islamic orthodoxy and custodian of its holiest places in Mecca and Medina.

Riyadh severed diplomatic relations after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran following the execution of a Shi’ite cleric in Saudi Arabia in January 2016.

Both countries agreed to Switzerland’s offer of its traditional policy of good offices and to act as a diplomatic channel between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia welcomed President Donald Trump’s decision in May to withdraw the United States from an international nuclear agreement with Iran and to reimpose economic sanctions on Tehran.

In an interview published on the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website, the ministry spokesman said there had been a “breakthrough” in relations between the two regional rivals.

“Up until two weeks ago, no visa had been issued for the names that we had submitted a long time ago,” spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

“But within the last week or two, there has been a breakthrough and I think there are indications that the office for the protection of interests will be opened,” he added.

Tension between the two countries have surged in recent years, with Saudi Arabia and Iran supporting opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon.

A PERSPECTIVE OF SIKH & MUSLIM RELATIONS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM & CAUSES OF TENSIONS & MISTRUST BETWEEN THE TWO COMMUNITIES

Click to view report

The Adab (Respect) research report builds on the work that Faith Matters undertook in Corrymeela in 2008 where a group of Sikhs and Muslims took part in facilitated discussions sessions looking at issues affecting both communities in England. That report (the Cohesive Communities report) is listed on this site.

This report builds on and raises some of the narratives that are leading to tensions in localized areas between Sikhs and Muslims. It also describes the deep cultural, religious and historical links that have bound together Punjabi speaking Muslims and Sikhs for generations whilst today there are some young people from both communities who have a ‘collective amnesia’ towards this rich shared heritage. Without this understanding, communal tensions can took root and some of these tensions are being manipulated by the British National Party. For the British National Party their decisive intervention is based on the age old premise of ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend.’

This report is the first detailed study of its kind into this area and we hope that you find the resource useful.

Press Releases:

Party accused of exploiting Sikh-Muslim tensions – Asian Image (https://www.asianimage.co.uk)
BNP ‘exploited religious tensions’ – Google News