JERUSALEM (AFP) - A Palestinian stabbed and lightly injured an American tourist in Jerusalem on Friday (Oct 30) before being shot and severely wounded, police said, in the first knife attack in the city for two weeks.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attacker stabbed one person and attempted to stab another when he was shot by security guards near a tram line which separates Jewish and Palestinian neighbourhoods in Jerusalem.

A hospital source identified the victim as an American tourist.

Samri said a bystander was also shot and wounded when security guards opened fire on the attacker.

The attack was the first in Jerusalem since Oct 17 when a Palestinian tried to stab a soldier at a checkpoint and was shot dead by Israeli forces.

In the West Bank, where several attacks and clashes have erupted in recent days, two Palestinians allegedly tried to stab Israeli police at checkpoint leading into the city of Nablus.

"Both terrorists arrived in area on motorbike armed with knives," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Twitter.

One of the alleged assailants was shot dead while the other was wounded by Israeli fire, police said.