A Jerusalem court convicted a 14-year-old Palestinian today 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.
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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 was the youngest Palestinian to be convicted by an Israeli court in the wave of violence that erupted last October.
His attorney Lea Tsemel told AFP that "the evidence shows he did not want to kill at all and didn't murder anyone. He said he just wanted to scare Jews so they'd stop killing Palestinians."
Tsemel contrasted the attempted murder charges Manasra was convicted of with the manslaughter charge levelled against Israeli soldier Elor Azaria, who is accused of shooting dead a wounded Palestinian assailant as he lay on the ground.
She accused the legal system of being "dragged into discriminating between Jews and Arabs."
Manasra's attack took place at the beginning of the a wave of Palestinian violence targeting Israeli civilians and security personnel, primarily in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Footage released by Israeli authorities in the wake of the attack purported to show the cousins -- knives in hand -- following the Israeli victims.
It also showed Ahmed in the aftermath of the attack lying bleeding on the ground while Israeli onlookers shout abuse.
It sparked a propaganda skirmish, with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas claiming he had been "executed" while Israel scrambled to release video of him sitting up and eating in a Jerusalem hospital bed.
