Tensions Flare Again in East Jerusalem

Clashes erupted in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shu’afat again on Monday after an undercover Israeli police officer arrested 10-year-old Mohammad Said Oweida on suspicion of throwing rocks at the neighborhood’s light-rail station. The arrest sparked clashes between Israeli border police and Palestinians that went into the night.

Shu’afat has become a flash-point for wider confrontations and clashes in the city over the past year. It began in June 2014, when several Israelis kidnapped and murdered 16-year old Shu’afat resident Mohammad Abu Khdeir, sparking clashes with the Israeli army that engulfed the neighborhood for days. The light rail, which passed through the neighborhood from the West Bank into West Jerusalem is now under almost constant assault, and there are persistent reports of planned attacks emanating from the neighborhood.

The light rail, a system that cost the Israelis more than a billion dollars to construct and is now a crucial public transit system for many Israelis to go to work, is a sensitive issue for the Israelis. That youth would be arrested for attempting to damage the light rail fits a pattern that Israel seeks to halt. However, Shu’afat has rallied around Oweida ever since he was picked up by Israeli authorities. Israelis are now concerned that the clashes will spread to other neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. This is exactly what happened this past summer, when unrest spread from Shu’afat to surrounding neighborhoods, prompting fears of a new intifada.

Minor clashes broke out today in East Jerusalem, most notably in Abu Dis, where local outlets reported an Israeli police officer was struck by a stone. Protests also sprouted up throughout the West Bank today after Friday prayers. The protesters accused Israel of unjustly arresting Palestinian children, pointing to the events in Shu’afat this week as an example.

While West Bank protests are usually ubiquitous, the theme this week emanated from Shu’afat. It’s too soon to call it a trend, but Shu’afat could be emerging as an epicenter of Palestinian politics, even if it is technically located in Israel.

Grant Rumley is a research analyst at Foundation for Defense of Democracies