JERUSALEM, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- A knife-wielding Palestinian carried out a "terror attack" in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday afternoon, lightly wounding an Israeli man, Israel's police said.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement that the suspect fled the scene and soldiers and police forces were still searching for him.

The incident took place at the entrance to Beit Jala, near Mount Gilo south of Jerusalem.

Israel's medical emergency service said Aharon Heller, a 30-year-old resident of the settlement of Beitar Illit, was wounded in his face and taken to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.

Heller's relative issued a statement on his behalf, saying he was attacked when he was trying to enter his car after visiting a shop in the area. "An Arab stormed towards me holding a knife and tried to kill me," Heller said in the statement.

The incident was part of a wave of attacks by Palestinian individuals, which include knife attacks, shooting, and car-ramming, usually carried out against soldiers, police officers and settlers.

Last Wednesday, five Israeli policemen were lightly injured amidst a knife attack by a Palestinian man inside a police station in East Jerusalem. The perpetrator was arrested.

The violence is part of the struggle against the Israeli occupation of the lands that Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war.