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Rain and Vigilance Reduce Jerusalem Violence

(Times of Israel) Mitch Ginsburg - The Israeli security forces dispatched to quell the recent disturbances in Jerusalem are convinced that there is no intifada or organized uprising, and that the unrest of recent weeks is very nearly extinguished. The Border Police say the security measures put in place - aided by the wet weather - have worked to restore calm to the city. Border Police Chief Superintendant Aviad Ketafi said the deployment of nearly 1,000 additional Border Police troops, combined with undercover units, 320 cameras in the Old City alone, and four surveillance balloons have contributed to a 30% drop in the number of protests in recent weeks and a reduction in their intensity. If in the past each demonstration lasted for hours and included dozens of fireworks launched at officers, today many of the disturbances are characterized by a few stones and are over within minutes. Community leaders cautiously agreed. Bassem Eid, a human rights activist and resident of Beit Haninah, an Arab neighborhood in northeast Jerusalem, said that nowhere on the horizon is there "anything resembling an intifada." The small-scale riots are not organized, are devoid of ideology, and are sapped of power by the Palestinian understanding that violence "doesn't attain a thing," he said.
2014-12-02 00:00:00
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