Jerusalem tense as violence escalates

Jerusalem tense as violence escalates
Tensions continue to rise in Jerusalem after Palestinian man rammed his car into Israeli pedestrians.
5 min read
05 November, 2014
Jerusalem is Islam's third holiest site [Getty]
An Israeli border police officer was killed when a Palestinian man rammed his car into two groups of pedestrians in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning.

His death followed months of heightened tension, which has seen escalating violence in the city and several fatalities.

This was the second deadly car attack in two weeks and came after a morning of fresh clashes between Palestinian civilians and Israeli police at al-Aqsa mosque.

Israeli police described the collision as "a hit and run terror attack".

The driver was identified as Ibrahim al-Akari, a 38 year-old father of five from the Shuafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.

Ahron Adril, an Israeli paramedic present on the scene told Israeli news channel 2 that Ibrahim came out of his wrecked car and attacked passers-by with an iron bar.

He was shot dead by Israeli police. 

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the driver had first struck a group of police officers who were crossing the road near border police headquarters, before continuing south and hitting a group of pedestrians waiting at the Shimon HaTsadik light rail station.

Akari was the brother of Mosa al-Akari, a Hamas political prisoner who was deported to Turkey after being released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap.


The attack was similar to that which killed a young woman and her infant child on 23 October. Abed al-Rahman al-Shaludi, a 20-year-old resident of the Silwan neighbourhood, had allegedly deliberately driven his car into a group of pedestrians in that attack.

Shaludi, like Akari, was shot dead on the scene by Israeli police.

A 'hard day' for Jerusalem

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat vowed to keep up the pressure on anyone "seeking to terrorise" the city.


The east of the city has been gripped by unrest for the past four months. 

"This is a hard day for Jerusalem," he told reporters. He urged the government to act with "a firm hand to win the war against terror and rioting".

"The only answer is to get the city back to normal and continue our daily lives, because that sends a message to these terrorists: We are here and we will not leave," he said.
     Israel is taking advantage of the explosive regional situation to achieve its goal of dividing al-Aqsa
- Dr Mouhammad al-Hendi, Islamic Jihad spokesman
"We will act with an even firmer hand and we will win this war."

This sentiment was widely shared by Israeli politicians.

Yariv Levin, chairman of the Likud party in the Knesset, condemned the attack and expressed support for continued settlement expansion in occupied East Jerusalem.

Miri Regev, another Likud Knesset member, agreed. "We need to show them that we are the rightful owners of Jerusalem," she said.

Israel's minister of internal affairs told reporters that he would advise the prime minister to strike back and demolish the family homes of all those involved in the attack.

Dr Mouhammad al-Hendi, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, told Palestine Today that the attack was a "natural" response to Israeli "violations" in Jerusalem.

"Israel is taking advantage of the explosive regional situation to achieve its goal of dividing al-Aqsa as it did with al-Haram al-Ibrahimi in Hebron," he said.

The Ibrahimi mosque was divided in 1994 to give access to both Muslims and Jews.

Shortly after the attack, clashes broke out in both Shuafat refugee camp and Issawiya, also in occupied East Jerusalem.

Confrontations over the holy site

The attack followed earlier clashes at al-Aqsa mosque as Israeli police escorted 108 Jewish worshippers into the holy site.


The compound, which is holy for both Muslims and Jews, has been the scene of frequent confrontations in recent months.

The clashes are largely triggered by Palestinian fears that Israel was preparing to allow Jews to pray at the site, the third-holiest in Islam.

The plaza on which the mosque stands was also the site of the two ancient Jewish temples, the second of which was destroyed in Roman times.


In recent years, Jews have been banned by both the Israeli police and the country's chief rabbinate from entering the compound.

Continued expansion of settlement - illegal under international law - and settler incursions into Silwan, a Palestinian neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, have also caused tension.   

The latest clashes erupted after a group of ultraorthodox nationalists of the messianic right wing announced plans to visit the Aqsa mosque sanctuary, a week after the failed assassination attempt upon Yehuda Glick.

Glick is a key activist in a group seeking to build a third Jewish temple on the Aqsa compound - known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
        This is the first time they managed to get inside the mosque and reach the pulpit. 
- Adnan Husseini, Palestinian governor of Jerusalem 


"Dozens of masked protesters threw stones and firecrackers at security forces who then entered the Temple Mount and pushed the demonstrators inside the [al-Aqsa] mosque," said Israeli police spokeswomen Luba Samri.


"This is the first time they managed to get inside the mosque and reach the pulpit," said Adnan Husseini, Palestinian Authority governor of Jerusalem.

Protesters stayed in the mosque overnight in an attempt to resist the planned visit by Jewish activists.

Amin Abu Ghazali of the Palestinian Red Crescent society, said that three people were seriously wounded by rubber bullets and another 15, who sustained light injuries, were treated on the scene.

An al-Aqsa guard employed by the Islamic Waqf authority was arrested for allegedly threatening a police officer.

Police also arrested two children for throwing stones.

The events prompted an angry response from Jordan, which has custodial rights over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, with Amman recalling its ambassador to Israel in protest at Israel's escalation on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.