A Palestinian allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli soldier at a border crossing in the northern West Bank on Monday and was shot dead by the army, Israeli police said.

A second Palestinian, allegedly an accomplice, was arrested, according to police.

The attempted attack took place on the Palestinian side of a crossing between Israel and the occupied West Bank, Israel's defence ministry.

Nine Israelis, 69 Palestinians and an Arab Israeli have been killed in a wave of violence since the beginning of October, raising fears of another Palestinian intifada or uprising.

The clashes that began on 30 September are simply a normal result of the frequent attacks by the Israeli settlers on Al-Aqsa mosque and the Israeli attempts to divide the third holiest site in Islam, similar to what happened to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

Settlement-building, racial discrimination, confiscation of identity cards, long queues at checkpoints, as well as daily clashes and the desecration of Al-Aqsa mosque, have been Palestinians' daily routine.

The anger of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem has increased in the last three years after the Israeli authorities allowed increasing numbers of Jewish settlers to storm the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The story was edited by Ahram Online.