Two attacks occur in central Israel, east Jerusalem shortly before Biden's visit

Three Israelis were injured, two seriously, and two Palestinian attackers were killed in two separate attacks taking place in less than an hour on Tuesday afternoon at a Tel Aviv suburb and in east Jerusalem, the Israeli police said.

The first attack took place in the marketplace city of Petach Tikva, east of Tel Aviv. The assailant stabbed an ultra-Orthodox Jew in his 40s at a liquor store, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

The victim and the store owner managed to fight the attacker and take away his knife, and police forces who arrived at the scene shot and killed him, according to the police.

The Israeli was evacuated to the Bellinson hospital in the city in moderate condition, emergency services said. Samri said the circumstance of the attack are under investigation, and police is looking into whether this is a nationalistic-motivated attack.

The attacker was said to be of an "Arab minority," therefore it is not yet certain whether it is an Arab Israeli or a Palestinian from the West Bank or east Jerusalem territories.

Arab Israelis are Palestinians, who stayed in Israel after the 1948 War and became citizens, constituting 20 percent of the population.

Shortly after this attack, an attacker riding a motorcycle shot and seriously wounded two Israeli police men in east Jerusalem, Samri said in a separate statement.

Large police forces pursued the attacker and managed to shoot and kill him, the police said.

These attacks are the latest in the wave of unrest which started in October and claimed the lives of 27 Israelis, killed in shooting, stabbing and car-ramming attacks, and more than 170 Palestinians, killed by Israeli security forces in clashes or after trying to carry out attacks against Israelis.

They also take place shortly before United States Vice President Joe Biden was slated to land in Israel for a two-day visit, planned mainly to close a security-aid package to Israel.

Israel says the Palestinian Authority is inciting to the violence, whereas the Palestinians say the unrest is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where Palestinians wish to establish their own state, in accordance with the two-state solution. Endit