PHOTO: American tourist, 29, stabbed to death by Palestinian in Tel Aviv stabbing spree as Vice President Joe Biden starts visit to Israel

An American tourist was stabbed to death in one of three attacks allegedly carried out by Palestinians across Israel on Tuesday—the same day a survey was released showing almost half of Jewish Israelis support expelling Arab citizens of Israel.

The attack on the unidentified U.S. citizen took place Tuesday evening in the port of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, where both Jews and Palestinians live. At least 10 people were injured and the suspected attacker was shot dead by police.

Police described the attacker as a 21-year-old from the West Bank refugee camp in Qalqilya.

Wolfson Medical Center in Tel Aviv, where the stricken American was taken, described him as a 29-year-old man. The same hospital was treating his wife, who was severely injured in the attack.

Just over an hour earlier, three Israelis were wounded in two separate attacks, occurring within minutes of each other, in Jerusalem and Petah Tikvah. One Palestinian suspect was shot to death.

The Israel army announced on Tuesday night that it was sealing off the West Bank villages of Zawia and Auja, the hometowns of two of the attackers, preventing anyone from leaving or entering. Israeli forces were also deployed to the East Jerusalem neigbourhood of Issawiya, where one of the attackers lived, as violence broke out there.

The attacks took place at a low point in Israeli-Palestinian relations, and on the day that Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel for talks with leaders on both sides. They also coincided with the release of a survey by the Pew Research Center that dramatically illustrated the divisions in Israel between Arab and Jew, and between religious and secular Jews.

The survey by the Washington-based think tank found that almost half of Israeli Jews backed the transfer or expulsion of Palestinians to other countries.The number of religious Jews who supported expulsion was higher - with 69% of ultra-Orthodox Jews supporting it.

The number of Palestinians citizens of Israel, known as Arab Israelis, who still had faith in a peaceful two state solution had dropped, with 74% believing it possible in 2013, and only 50% in 2015. Only 43% of Jewish respondents believed the two sides could agree on a viable two-state solution—the goal of international peacemaking efforts.

According to the survey, Arab Israelis don’t think Israel can be both a democracy and a Jewish state, with 63% of Muslims and 72% of Arab Christians saying the two are incompatible.

Most Israeli Jews, by contrast, believe it is possible for Israel to be a democratic, Jewish state—although there are sharp divisions between religious and secular Jews about what that means. Roughly 90% of secular Jews say democratic principles should prevail over religious law, while the same percentage of ultra-Orthodox Jews say precisely the opposite.

The survey included face-to-face interviews with 5,600 people, and had various margins of sampling error, depending on the size of the subgroup.

Its findings pointed to the challenges facing the United States as it continues to look for a solution to the intractable bloodshed in the region—and struggles to maintain civil relations with Israel.

Biden’s arrival Tuesday came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to decline an invitation to meet with President Obama. The cancellation of Netanyahu’s expected visit to Washington, originally scheduled for later this month, came as a surprise to U.S. officials, who issued a terse statement expressing annoyance over the change of plans.

“We were surprised to first learn via media reports that the prime minister, rather than accept our invitation, opted to cancel his visit,” the White House statement said.

Netanyahu’s office later denied that he had surprised the White House and said he called off the trip to avoid becoming entangled in the heated politics of the U.S. presidential election. Many Democrats accused Netanyahu of meddling in U.S. affairs last year when he lobbied against the nuclear agreement between Iran and a group of international powers led by the United States.

Most of the discussion between Biden and Israeli leaders is expected to center on Israeli hopes that the United States will increase funding in a new, 10-year military aid package from the current $3 billion a year. Israel is seeking an additional $1 billion a year; the Obama administration is reported to be offering an additional $500 million a year.

There is little hope that Biden’s visit will lead to any efforts to reinvigorate the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. The violence on Tuesday made it one of the bloodiest days in a five-month wave that has left 33 Israelis and nearly 200 Palestinians dead.

In the attack involving the American, police said the man stabbed three people near the Jaffa port, ran towards Tel Aviv stabbing another three people, and then stabbed four more farther along the beachfront promenade, not far from a now-shuttered nightclub where a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 25 people in 2001.

Seven people injured in the attack were being treated in Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, one in critical condition, three in moderate and two suffering from light wounds. The hospital said one of the victims was a pregnant woman, and another was an Arab Israeli.

Israeli police said two police personnel were wounded, one critically, in a shooting attack near the Damascus Gate, which leads into the Old City of Jerusalem. The Palestinian suspect was shot dead. Another Israeli was wounded in a stabbing attack in Petah Tikvah.

Culled from LA Times