Photo Credit: Hadas Parush / Flash 90
Arabs clash with police in Shuafat. Look

Meanwhile, events in the Arab areas of Jerusalem are heating up even further. Arabs are rioting in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras el-Amud. Both Jews and Arabs live in the area, which is also home to the Ma’ale Ha’Zeitim neighborhood. Arabs hurled rocks at security forces and burned tires as the level of violence around the Old City continued to grow.

Two Arab men were severely beaten by a mob in Shuafat at midday Wednesday because the rioters believed they were undercover Israeli security officers.

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The Arab assailants were mistaken – and the victims were simply fellow Arabs – but no one was in the mood to listen as both men tried to clarify their identity to their attackers.

One of the men works in a lawyer’s office, according to Arab affairs journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, who reported he was rescued by Israeli Border Patrol officers and evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital for treatment.

The second victim was an Arab journalist covering the riot. He apparently was falsely identified as an undercover cop by rival PA media outlets. Both victims are Arab residents who live in an Arab neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, Abu Toameh reported.

There was rioting in the Old City of Jerusalem in the early morning hours as well. Rock-throwing Muslim ‘worshipers’ at the Temple Mount effectively closed the site to Jewish visitors but not to Muslims. The site is holy to both — more sacred to Jews, as a matter of fact — the Temple Mount and the nearby Western Wall complex is considered the holiest site in the Jewish faith. But on Wednesday, Israel Police shut down the Temple Mount, as usual, for Jews, because radical Islamist Arabs hurled rocks and created a “dangerous” situation for non-Muslim visitors.

When asked by The Jewish Press why Jewish visitors were being punished for the violence of the Islamic worshipers, rather than blocking Muslim access to the site, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld refused to answer, and simply reiterated the stock reply that conditions on the site had resulted in dangerous conditions for visitors.

“Dangerous for Jewish visitors?”

“Yes.”

“But not for Muslims?”

“No.”

No arrests were made in response to the violence, Rosenfeld said, but added that police would view the CCTV security tape and make arrests based on the footage “later on.”

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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.