World Bulletin/News Desk

Jewish settlers in occupied East Jerusalem attacked two Palestinian taxi drivers in two separate incidents as tension continues to simmer in the region.

The Israeli police said that a group of Israelis had vandalized Palestinian cars in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa, where they also sprayed anti-Arab graffiti.

They also attacked a Palestinian taxi driver, police added, without stating whether any arrests were made.

Police also noted that four Israeli minors had been arrested after hurling stones at a taxi driven by a Palestinian in Jerusalem.

According to the police, the perpetrators admitted that the attack had been motivated by racial prejudice.

Tension has been running high in the region since late last month, when Israeli authorities temporarily closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem after an extremist Jewish rabbi was injured in a drive-by shooting in West Jerusalem.

Unrest mounted further after Israeli forces killed a young Palestinian man suspected of shooting the rabbi in a raid on his East Jerusalem home.

Further aggravating the situation, several Israeli parliamentarians have entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in recent weeks, drawing the ire of Muslim worshippers and official condemnation from Arab and Muslim countries.

Groups of Jewish settlers, too, have forced their way into the religious site, prompting clashes between Muslim worshippers and Israeli forces.

On Monday, an Israeli girl was killed and an Israeli soldier was injured during Palestinians knife attacks.