Jerusalem's new normal: Arabs and Jews on edge amid near-daily attacks

Shira Rubin | Special for USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption What's causing Israel's unrest? A wave of stabbings, shootings, and vehicle attacks by Palestinians targeting Israelis has lasted two months, with no signs of slowing down.

JERUSALEM — Three months of near daily attacks by Palestinians have kept Jerusalem’s streets quieter than usual, but that hasn't stopped Israeli teacher Talia Malek from purposely taking public transportation and attempting to keep up her daily routine despite deep anxieties.

“This is our city, this is our country, and we need to show that we cannot be intimidated,” said Malek, who lives in a predominantly Jewish part of the city.

As she and others waited for the light rail train to arrive, the group stared and stiffened when an Arab girl in a colorful hijab (head scarf) walked past.

“Co-existence in Israel is possible between Jews and other groups, but this current situation reminds us that Palestinians see us as their enemy, reject our existence here. And the moment that they have the chance they will — literally — stab us in the back,” Malek said.

In the latest round of such violence, two Palestinians were shot and killed after stabbing Jewish pedestrians in Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday. Two Israelis later died from their wounds, including one man who was apparently wounded by police as they shot at the attackers, the Associated Press reported.

Since late September, Jerusalem and the West Bank have been plagued by almost daily stabbings, shootings and vehicle attacks. Twenty Israelis and an American student have died and at least 120 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including 82 identified by Israel as assailants, according to the AP.

While attacks have abated in recent weeks, the random violence has left both Jewish and Arab residents of this city on edge, distrustful of one another and hesitant to wander out in the streets. That tense situation has hurt business and tourism.

The rise in anti-Arab sentiment includes Jewish boycotts of Arab businesses and closer scrutiny by schools of Arab custodial workers who could be the next attackers.

Jerusalem authorities announced Monday that they were installing steel pillars around 300 bus stops in the city after a 21-year-old Palestinian man rammed his car last week into a bus stop, injuring 14 people.

Jewish Israelis such as Malek are well aware that bus and train stops remain vulnerable targets, even though the government has taken a hard-line stance against attackers to stem the violence and calm residents' angst. Among its steps: road closures to restrict Palestinians' movements, demolition of homes of alleged attackers and stricter oversight at the holy site known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims.

The attacks began after false word spread among Palestinians that Israel was going to take control of their holy site, a claim repeated by Palestinian leaders to spur the violence despite Israeli denials.

Palestinians such as Ahmad Amari from East Jerusalem also say they are afraid — of their Jewish neighbors.

“I used to travel on the bus and hang out in Jewish areas, but now I’ve decided to buy a motorcycle and I only enter Jewish areas for work — though it's still quite scary,” said Amari, who, like many of his Palestinian neighbors, works at a Jewish-owned business in the western part of the city.

Yehuda Amram, a Jewish baker in the Mahane Yehuda Market, one of the few places where Arabs and Jews mingle freely, said Jews should not confuse Arab neighbors — who make up the backbone of the Israeli economy and mostly favor coexistence — with the “foreign millionaires (in Arab countries) who are trying to cause problems and incite them to violence through the Internet.”

Although Jerusalem has long been subject to religious tensions and violent clashes, the market has never looked so empty as this holiday season, Amram said.

He said business is down 80%. Foreign tourism nationwide was down more than 30% last month, according to the Israeli Tourism Ministry.

“Events are very unexpected. It’s much more random than during the previous intifadas (uprisings), and people are afraid that if they walk around they risk getting stabbed in the street,” Amram said. “But it is the Palestinians who are really afraid, since we have no other option here but ‘shoot to kill.’”

A poll published last week by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found 67% of Palestinians support stabbing attacks on Israelis. Moreover, a growing majority said they no longer believe that Palestinian independence through diplomacy is an achievable goal and that armed resistance could "serve Palestinian national interests in ways that negotiations could not,” the survey found.

Haim Israelov, a Jewish resident who owns a tahini shop in the Mahane Yehuda Market, said that because Palestinians are “ready to kill again,” Israel’s only option is to further intensify its response and “gather up all of them in order to transport them out of the country.”

“Jews have nothing to fear here in Jerusalem," he said. "We have our protection from above.”