Arabs from the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukahber bombarded Border Police with rocks in the adjacent Armon HaNatziv neighbor Wednesday morning.

Police forced the rioters back with riot dispersal methods.

No injuries were reported.

President Reuven Rivlin delivered a passionate plea to Israeli Jews Thursday to understand that Arabs in Jerusalem “are here to stay” but did not note that they have to understand that Jews also are “here to stay.”

Speaking at the “Haaretz Peace Conference in Tel Aviv, the President also blamed both the left and right-wings in Israel for failing to develop Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, implying that their economic and social misery is the reason for their wanting to kill Jews.

Facts that he did not state were that an overwhelming of Arabs in Jerusalem do not vote in Israeli elections, that the Palestinian Authority claims sovereignty over them but that they have shown little political interest in becoming Palestinian Authority citizens and losing their rights and benefits from the Jewish state.

President Rivlin’s most interesting comment was that the left-wing is just as much to blame as the right wing for not developing Jerusalem.

He said:

The Left, in the name of ‘separation,’ refused to invest in its neighborhoods, citing the supposed ‘transience’ hovering over the issue of a unified Jerusalem. Accordingly, the Left did not see fit to realize our sovereignty there or strive to bring equality in the living conditions between the city’s eastern and western areas. The Right, for its part, for reasons of ideological struggle and electoral unpopularity, also did not deem it proper to invest in the eastern part and thereby to unify the city in practice

Rivlin is a committed centrist. He said that Israelis understand “the limitations of the old ‘land for peace’ formula” and that Jews are “a courageous people, which justly lays claim to its right and obligation to defend itself, and not to fall into fateful mistakes in the name of a naive yearning for instant solutions to end the conflict.”

His declaration to the conference that the right wing must understand that Arabs and “Palestinians,” as he called them, are here to stay was omitted the other side of the coin that they have to accept the fact the Jewish State of Israel is here to stay.

Rivlin told the conference:

The Arabs of the Land of Israel, the Palestinians, are already here, now, by our side and in our midst, and they are not going anywhere. Separation does not make them ‘disappear’ just as Greater Israel will not ‘swallow’ them. Separation will not render them ‘invisible’ or ‘non-hostile.’ and Greater Israel will not make them fond of us or make them our friends.

When the President of Israel calls Jerusalem Arabs “Palestinians” he fuels a disconnect with Israel and feeds their trying to identify with the Palestinian Authority.

In the same breath, he appealed to Arab youth not to turn to violence to solve their problems.

He far from justified Arab violence but implied that it can be understood because, in his words, “We froze and repressed dealing with eastern Jerusalem in the present – and thereby literally abandoned the security of its Jewish inhabitants and the welfare of its Arab inhabitants.

“Is there really anyone, on the Right or Left, who thinks that if in the eastern section of Jerusalem, if more than 70 percent of its inhabitants live below the poverty line, that this advances Israel’s interests or the security of the city’s Jewish inhabitants?”

After having explained why he thinks Arabs are violent, and without a hint of Islamic clerics’ preaching for “martyrdom,” the radical Islamic Movement’s hate Israel message or daily Palestinian Authority incitement, President Rivlin pleaded for peace and said:

I wish to reach out to the Palestinian youth. I say to you, choosing death is not a way out. For too many years blood has been shed like water on this land. Mankind – all mankind – was created in the image of God. No blood is redder than any other.

Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a label for a label.

Likud Knesset Member Miki Zohar has introduced a bill that would require importers to label all products from European Union countries that stamp goods from Judea and Samaria in an effort to discourage people from buying them.

The European Union two months ago overwhelmingly voted for labeling products from Judea and Samaria, “East Jerusalem” and the Golan Heights, distinguishing them from the rest of Israel. EU officials claimed that the labeling is not a boycott but only implements EU policy that considers those areas as “occupied territory” and not a part of Israel.

Under provisions in MK Zohar’s bill, anyone who does not label goods from European countries would face six months in prison or pay a fine of $3,700 (14.400 shekels)

He said:

Boycott Israel groups in Europe cynically use expressions such as ‘human rights’ and ‘war against the Israeli occupation,’ but their political agenda is to boycott Israel and undermine the country as a Jewish state.

If the European Union countries label pour predicts, we should take the same step so that the Israeli consumer can choose if he wants to buy predicts from countries that boycott us and instead can boycott in return.

He added that the EU policy is “gross hypocrisy” that is two-faced because the Boycott Israel movement ignores other countries such as China and Turkey that rule areas that are considered “‘occupied territory.”

MK Michael Oren of the Kulanu party carried out his own “label for a label” action Wednesday by placing “Made in Europe” stickers on European-made products sold in stores a Jerusalem neighborhood.

A Jerusalem municipal committee has temporarily frozen all building construction permits in eastern Jerusalem, not only for Jews but also for Arabs, Army Radio reported Monday afternoon.

The office of the Prime Minister insists that it had nothing to do with the Jerusalem City Building and Planning Committee’s decision to freeze construction.

The halt in construction comes just before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is to visit President Barack Obama to try to mend fences. It also comes shortly after the Obama administration denounced a near-final bureaucratic advancement in plans for building 900 new residential units in the Hareidi Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, adjacent to the Arab Shuafat area.

A source in the municipality said the decision to freeze all building construction permits was made so there will be no question of discrimination.

The freeze puts Washington in a bit of a bind.  

It frequently has opposed building for Jews in eastern Jerusalem, a tacit approval of discrimination in favor of Arabs. This time, any criticism from the White House or the State Dept. would have to explicitly state that its policy discriminates in favors of Arabs.

Eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem, unlike Judea and Samaria, are not ruled by the military and instead have full legal status as any other city in Israel. The  United States and virtually the rest of the world continue to define half the capital as “occupied,” even though more than 250,000 Jews live in areas that were restored to Israel in the Six-Dar in 1967, including the Kotel.

The decision was made during a discussion on the approval of the units for the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood. The same apartments were approved in an earlier bureaucratic five years ago on the same day Vice President Joe Biden step foot in Israel for a visit.

The timing infuriated Biden, and the project has caused consternation in Washington every time another step is approved.

Indictments were filed Friday morning against the 13-year-old terrorist who stabbed and wounded a Jew his own age and a 21-year-old in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev October 12.

The minor, identified as Ahmed Mansara, wanted to murder Jews and become a martyr. He failed on both counts although Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas had declared that Israel “executed” the boy, who was shot and wounded during the stabbing attacks.

Mansara was wounded when he was hit by a car during a chase after him and an accomplice, his 15-year-old cousin Hassan Mansara who was shot and killed.

The bald-faced lie of the “execution” cost Abbas immense damage in the foreign media that like to show him as a “peace partner” who preaches peace but is supposedly blocked by the government in Israel.

Abbas looked even dumber when photographs showed that the 13-year-old would-be martyr was receiving medical care in Hadassah Hospital

Even that was more than Palestinian Authority media could accept, and they quoted the lad as saying as he was abused in the hospital.

Now Mansara has his day in court, which he could forget about in the Palestinian Authority if he had tried to murder an Arab.

The indictment stated that the 13-year-old met his cousin after coming home from school.

They decided to become martyrs after having discussed the political situation, having learned their lessons if not from school then from official Palestinian Authority media that encourages children to let themselves be killed so long as they can murder a Jew first.

The 13-year-old victim was critically wounded but has recovered enough to be released from the hospital. The 21-year-old victim suffered moderate wounds.

The Jewish New Year began with blood for security personnel as well as for some who were traveling on Rosh Hashana in Jerusalem and surrounds. Police who provide security at the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem spent the last three days struggling to contain increasingly violent riots in the compound as both Jordan and the United States ramped up their rhetoric against the Israeli government’s decision to enforce free access to the site by all faiths.

On Tuesday morning (Sept. 15) five police officers were injured while working to contain Arab riots on the Temple Mount for the third day in a row, the second day of the two-day Jewish holiday. Dozens of masked Palestinian Arabs hurled blocks of cement, rocks and live firecrackers at the security officers when they entered the Temple Mount compound. The violence is part of an ongoing attempt by Arabs to prevent Jews from accessing the site.

Police officers and firefighters encountered more violence in the afternoon while trying to extinguish a fire on Hagai Street in eastern Jerusalem. Arab residents of the neighborhood took the opportunity to hurl rocks and bottles at the firefighters and police officers who had responded to the emergency.

Several hours later, Jerusalem Arabs came out in force to hurl firebombs at police officers in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, and by 8 pm Arab residents were rioting in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amud as well.

Dozens of Arab residents were also reportedly rioting in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shiloah (Silwan) at 9:30 pm. At about the same time, Border Guard Police officers were fending off pipe bomb attacks by Arabs at the Qalandia checkpoint on the outskirts of the capital.

Also at about 9:30 pm, Arab residents shot fireworks at Jewish homes in the Jerusalem compound of Beit Orot. (About 90 minutes later, a frustrated Jewish resident in Beit Orot lost his patience and ramped up music from a speaker in the window of his home. Guess who the police decided to arrest?)

Arab terrorists hurled rocks at the Light Rail train as it traveled through the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat at about 10 pm. None of the passengers were physically injured though several were traumatized and at least one car was damaged.

At 10:45 pm Tuesday night, just after the end of the holiday, an IDF soldier was hurt in a rock attack near the Samaria Jewish community of Har Bracha. The soldier was evacuated for treatment to Beilinson Medical Center in Petach Tikvah.

At the start of the holiday, Arab road terrorists murdered a Jewish Israeli motorist as he was driving with his wife and daughter late Sunday night (Sept. 13) in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv. The Arabs hurled rocks at his car, sending it careening it out of control on Rehov Asher Weiner, where it hit an electricity pole. Alexander Leiblovitch, 64, was subsequently pronounced dead at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem. His injured wife was admitted to the hospital and remained hospitalized in stable condition; their daughter was treated at the hospital and was released.

Violence has skyrocketed in the Old City of Jerusalem since the start of the summer, and particularly since the first of July.

Data released Tuesday in a report by the Construction Ministry indicate there have been 580 attacks against civilians or security personnel.

That figure only reflects attacks that occurred within the walls of the Old City – Shiloah (Silwan), the City of David, and the Mount of Olives.

Not included in the data are any attacks that occurred in Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Shuafat, Beit Hanina, Issawiya, Jabel Mukabar and others.

Since numerous road terror attacks have taken place in those areas for most of the summer, it is clear the total number of violent incidents in the capital is rising.

There were 477 rock attacks on Israeli vehicles during the months of June and July this year. In addition, the data reflect 28 incidents of firebombing attacks on Jewish-owned vehicles and homes, with Molotov cocktails. There were also other attacks recorded with Arabs hurling glass bottles and igniting fireworks which they then hurled at people or vehicles or homes, and other types of vandalism as well, such as destruction of Jewish grave markers.

Six Jews were attacked in the Old City of Jerusalem, including five civilians and one Border Guard Police officer in June.

Out of a total of 359 incidents that month, 213 occurred in the City of David, 21 were in the Old City itself and 125 took place on the Mount of Olives. There were four reports of tombstone desecration in the cemetery there.

Last month there were 221 incidents, with 108 reported in the City of David, 92 on the Mount of Olives and once again, 21 in the Old City.

One grave was desecrated, and there were 16 reports of firebombing attacks. Several incidents of fireworks being ignited and launched at Israeli security forces like mini-rockets were also reported.

Four times there were reports of Arabs hurling glass bottles at Jews in the Old City and 170 rock attacks reported as well.

Jerusalem District Police responded with a statement Wednesday, saying:

“We are operating based on a plan that includes the deployment of increased forces, both covert and public activity, the incorporation of special units to conduct arrests and the incorporation of many technological measures against rioting in East Jerusalem, in order to protect the residents of the city and its visitors and increase their security.

“Police operates determinedly, and holds a dialogue with local leaders, which has led to an ongoing decline in stone and firebomb throwing incidents in recent months. Most of the violent incidents are done against security forces due to the friction with rioters in East Jerusalem neighborhoods. “It’s important to stress that despite the ongoing trend of decline, dealing with rioters cannot be done only by police enforcement. The violence is a general problem, and therefore should be handled by police, as well as the judicial system, the prosecution, the municipality, welfare, education and more – persistently and long-term.”

Jerusalem City Council member Aryeh King blamed the political leadership, saying politicians are “tying the hands of security forces.”

Police cannot deal with attacks properly, King said, while the judicial system releases the suspects or responds with leniency in the face of violence.