No carrots today

In dealing with the unrest in east Jerusalem, the authorities are only applying the stick.

By PEGGY CIDOR
Palestinians burn US and Israeli flags during a demonstration in east Jerusalem last week. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinians burn US and Israeli flags during a demonstration in east Jerusalem last week.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Whether or not one agrees that the current riots in east Jerusalem herald a new intifada, there is no question that the authorities – be it the municipality, the police or other security forces – have to find a way to put an end to the situation.
While most of the damage from these riots was – at least in the initial weeks following the July 2 murder of Shuafat teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir – confined to the Arab neighborhoods of Shuafat and Beit Hanina, today they have spread to all the seam neighborhoods, and have reached their peak at the Temple Mount and the Western Wall area, with the latest incident being Wednesday’s terror attack on Route 1, in which at least one person was killed.
No details are available at the moment regarding the cost of the additional 3,000 policemen brought in to help restore law and order to the capital.
According to some hotel managers, it is too early to estimate how many tourists are forgoing trips to Jerusalem due to the turbulence, but as one manager says, “there is no question that many have changed their minds and decided not to come now.”
Even local residents have cut down on their leisure activities. Most of the malls and commercial centers in the city have reported a significant drop in visitors and income, as have bars and restaurants.
There have been numerous stone-throwing and fire-bombing incidents, targeting houses in the seam neighborhoods of east Talpiot, French Hill, Gilo, Abu Tor and Pisgat Ze’ev, as well as security forces, the light rail and some of the bus lines.
All this has created an unbearable situation and threatened to demolish the city’s new image as a center of culture, tourism and academic excellence – a threat that Mayor Nir Barkat wants to avoid at almost any price.
Barkat wants a solution now, and he has put a lot of pressure on the local police chief to find and implement one quickly, before the situation can deteriorate further. Noisy media headlines announcing that “Jerusalem is on fire” have enraged him and added to the pressure at Safra Square.
Barkat believes that any public disorder should be handled with an “iron fist,” one that will make adult Arab residents think twice about allowing their children to continue throwing stones and spreading devastation.
But there is more, apparently. Barkat can’t admit that particularly now, when he has invested a lot of energy, planning and municipal funds in improving the quality of life and the infrastructure in Arab neighborhoods, the Arab residents would choose to harm the city. Of course, members of the opposition on the city council usually disregard these plans, maintaining that they are at most cosmetic changes, and among the Arab residents, there is a strong feeling that they are merely political propaganda.
“The police are here to protect the Jews living here and to arrest us at every step. They don’t care about the high level of crime in our neighborhoods, the drug dealers and the rackets,” a resident of Silwan tells me.
The truth is, not surprisingly, somewhere in the middle. Barkat’s efforts to improve the situation in the Arab neighborhoods are not just cosmetic, but it will take time to see results – and in any case, the gap between the two sides of the city is so huge that it is unreasonable to expect tangible results so soon.
Nonetheless, Barkat, who seems genuinely convinced that he is the first mayor to care about the conditions in the Arab neighborhoods, has gotten really angry in the face of the ongoing riots and the deteriorating security situation. No doubt his anger was – and still is – the major force behind his firm request for tough action from the police and his decision to launch a vast operation of punishment (which Safra Square is calling a “warning” to Arab residents that the era of turning a blind eye to the agitation in the city is over).
As a result, municipality employees – mostly inspectors – have been instructed to give out tickets even where parking regulations have not been enforced until now; a joint operation with the Tax Authority is cracking down on Arab businesses. And a new rule, coordinated with the State Attorney’s Office, imposes high monetary penalties on parents of youth who throw stones.
Usually, when there is public unrest, the best method of dealing with it is alternating between a stick and a carrot. This time, the stick alone speaks; there are no carrots on the horizon.