The revolution in Egypt that resulted in the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February has led to an increase in lawlessness in Sinai, allowing more movement of Palestinian militants to and from Gaza through tunnels under the border.  “Even this morning, we are on high alert in the south in the face of a possible attack, which is similar in setup to the one that happened 10 days ago,” the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, said Monday.  Mr. Barak spoke at an Israeli military industrial plant in the southern city of Ashdod, telling his hosts that an additional battery of a new antirocket defense system would be set up soon to intercept rockets fired from Gaza.  “By the end of the year we intend to have four sites, as part of a national emergency program that will bring us nine sites in less than two years, with many thousands of interceptions,” he said. “This will change the foundations of the defense of Israeli citizens.”  The Tel Aviv attack occurred just before 2 a.m. at one of the city’s most popular nightclubs, which was holding a well-publicized end-of-summer celebration. The police checkpoint and additional security there had been set up for crowd control in anticipation of scuffling unrelated to politics.  The man accused of the attack was slightly hurt and, along with the victims, was taken to a hospital for treatment. He was under interrogation.  Terrorist attacks, which became relatively common in Israel during the Palestinian uprising in 2002 and 2003, have been rare in Tel Aviv in the last few years, for a combination of reasons, including the renunciation of violence by the West Bank leadership, the construction of a security barrier by Israel and intensive Israeli military activity against militant cells.  But the attack on southern Israel this month raised concerns about the renewal of such tactics, especially as peace talks have ground to a halt and mutual recrimination has increased.  The Palestinian leadership is planning to appeal in a few weeks for the United Nations to accept the state of Palestine as a member. Israeli officials — as well as some Palestinians — say they are worried that the move, by raising expectations but changing little on the ground, could increase the frequency of violence.  In a statement about the Tel Aviv attack issued through its news agency, the Palestinian Authority said it “condemned this attack as well as the ongoing Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and reaffirmed its intention to seek membership and recognition of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders and with Jerusalem as its capital in the United Nations.” It added that “no attempts to divert attention will stop us from achieving our goal.”  Israel and the United States have urged the Palestinian Authority not to seek the United Nations vote, and to engage instead in direct negotiations with Israel. The Palestinians say negotiations are pointless because they believe Israel has no desire to see a Palestinian state come into being.  Palestinian newspapers on Monday included quotations from an interview that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, gave to Arab newspapers, in which he said that international recognition of a Palestinian state would change the legal status of Palestinians by turning their territory into a “country under occupation” in accordance with international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.  A version of this article appears in print on August 30, 2011, on Page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Palestinian Man Injures 8 at Israeli Club, Police Say. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
A Palestinian man hijacked a taxi in Tel Aviv, drove it to a packed nightclub and ran over policemen at a security checkpoint before emerging to stab several bystanders.