The police announcement of the exposure of the explosives laboratory in the Shuafat refugee camp did not surprise anyone in Pisgat Ze'ev, whose eastern part borders the refugee camp.
Two Terrorist Attacks in Jerusalem Within Two Hours - The Forces' Activity in Shuafat (Archive) // Police Spokesperson's Office
We have become accustomed in recent years to accommodate. Hear long bursts of hundreds of automatic weapons in the camp every night. Collect the bullets from the children's trampoline in the morning. Extinguish the fires from the cabins and fireworks. Hear "Atabah al Yahud" on loudspeakers until the wee hours of the night.
Tensions over the fence escalated
Since the beginning of the war, tensions on the fence have escalated. Many families do not turn a blind eye at night because of the sounds of explosions and screams of incitement, because of the climbing of "young people" - some of them armed - on the fence, because of the shouts (in Hebrew) "We will come and finish you."
It's not a battle in a faraway country: my house is about 150 meters from the fence, other houses on my street are only a few dozen meters away. This is not the range of an anti-tank missile - it is the range of a gun, or of a "Carlo".
Police activity in the early morning hours in Shuafat (archive), photo: Israel Police Spokesperson's Office
And here is a fact that will surprise quite a few of those who have heard about the hundreds of terrorists who came out of this hornet's nest to sabotage Jerusalem and beyond, send packages with swastikas in Shufersal, shoot at the security forces at every opportunity - and now also prepare bombs:
The Shuafat refugee camp is not "Judea and Samaria." It is not in Area A, B or C. It is an area under sovereign control of Jerusalem, which a little more than a decade ago was surrounded by a wall due to a massive spillover by terrorist elements from the PA-controlled Anata area, which is adjacent to it.
The riot is answered harshly
True, the Jerusalem Municipality does not enter and does not remove even garbage from there, because it is impossible to attach three Border Police jeeps to each garbage truck. When a fire breaks out in the camp, the firefighting vehicles must be accompanied by a Border Police company, because otherwise the firefighters will be attacked and killed, even though they came to save the lives of the camp residents. This is the reality in the camp in Jerusalem, this is governance.
The security establishment decided not to open Shuafat's Pandora's box (archive), photo: AP
I have no complaints about the Jerusalem Police or the Shaft police station, which controls the north of the city – quite the opposite. Since the beginning of the war, the police have been on the fence with reinforced forces, the policemen and Border Police forces try to deal immediately with any disturbance of the peace, in some cases the riot is met with a heavy hand. An alert squad was established. But there are some 60,<> people on the other side of the fence, many thousands, too many, would like to do in Pisgat Ze'ev what their Gazan friends did on Kibbutz Be'eri.
In recent weeks, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has eased the distribution of weapons to civilians. It's a welcome step that could save lives, and I and many of my fence-edge neighbors will probably arm.
The sights and sounds from the envelope reminded us that there is Gaza in Jerusalem as well. But Ben-Gvir's cabinet colleagues must understand that while the minister can distribute gun licenses to citizens, the government's job is to prevent the need to use them. And the writing on the wall between Shuafat refugee camp and Pisgat Ze'ev glows red.
The writer is a news editor at Israel Hayom who lives in Pisgat Ze'ev, adjacent to the Shuafat camp
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us