(JTA) — A Palestinian man was arrested for holding an Israeli woman at knifepoint.

The man, a 19-year-old from the West Bank village of Tul Karm, pressed a knife to the neck of a woman from the northern Israeli village of Kfar Tavor, according to Haaretz. The man had apparently crossed into Israel illegally and was working in construction in the village.

The victim was saved when a nearby woman heard a scream and called to her husband, an off-duty police officer. The policeman pointed a gun at the Palestinian man, demanded he release the woman, and held him until police arrived to arrest him. Police said that whether the crime was nationalistic or criminal remained unclear.