Israel sets up checkpoints in Palestinian east Jerusalem

Jerusalem: Israel began setting up checkpoints in Palestinian areas of annexed east Jerusalem on Wednesday as it struggled to stop a wave of attacks that have raised fears of a full-scale uprising.

A police spokeswoman said checkpoints were being set up at "the exits of Palestinian villages and neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem," where most of the recent attackers have come from.

A wave of mainly stabbing attacks have spread fear in Israel, while a gun-and-knife attack on a Jerusalem bus yesterday killed two people.

A third Israeli was killed on Tuesday when a Palestinian attacker rammed his car into pedestrians, then exited with a knife.

All three attackers in the two incidents were from east Jerusalem.

The move to install checkpoints followed a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet overnight authorising police to seal off or impose a curfew on parts of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu has faced major pressure over the wave of attacks as well as violent Palestinian protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The upsurge in violence that began on October 1 has led some to warn of the risk of a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Frustrated Palestinian youths have defied efforts by Israel and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to restore calm.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.