ADVERTISEMENTTension remains high and the security forces are on high alert in Jerusalem following the deadly attacks that cost the lives of four Israelis on Tuesday.
The government has announced it will build 78 new homes in the predominantly-arabic East Jerusalem, in the Har Homa and Ramot districts. It is the latest of several building permits accorded for East Jerusalem projects, more than 4000 homes in all.
“We are really terrified. We are not calm and we hope there is going to be an end to this, and that it is not just the beginning;” said young stay-at-home mother Sara Levi.
“I feel very safe here. At the beginning I was afraid coming here but when I saw their patrols, they really put an emphasis on every single detail,” said a Beit Shemesh resident.
No-one is sure what the government will do next. But most seem sure it will not be any half-measure. For Arab residents, the east of the city is theirs, and anything else is unthinkable.
“The police is the issue. They work with the government to discriminate between Arabs and Jews, to make people leave Jerusalem. But this won’t happen. Our lives and work are here, and whatever they do, they won’t succeed,” said East Jerusalem resident:Jamal Khamis:
At the UN it has even been suggested that the risks of a flareup are so great it might be good to set up checkpoints along the line dividing west and east Jerusalem, but some complain that would amount to a de facto division of the “indivisible” holy city.