On edge

It is almost business as usual in downtown West-Jerusalem, but the underlying tension which has shaken the city over the past weeks is palpable.

Gilbert Glanz, an Israeli resident of the city, is on his way to a meeting with other parents from the school his children attend in downtown West-Jerusalem. In recent weeks, he has been preoccupied with security concerns. "I have flashbacks from the past, how the situation was years ago," Glanz told DW. "Now, I walk around armed with a weapon, and I make sure that the gates are closed after I bring my children to school. We also stopped going out in the evening in crowded areas."

Since last Tuesday (18.11.2014), when two armed Palestinians attacked a synagogue in the orthodox neighborhood of Har Nof, killing four rabbis and a policeman, tensions in Jerusalem have almost reached breaking point.

Before that incident, two hit and run attacks on passengers waiting at a tram stop in Jerusalem killed at least three Israelis. And the attempted assassination of Yehuda Glick, a right-wing Jewish religious fundamentalist, led to a temporary and unprecedented closing of the Al Aqsa Compound in the Old City - a holy site for Palestinians and Muslims.

"The problem is, you never know when an attack comes. It is not something organized by a certain political group as we know them, it can be everyone, it can be done everywhere," Glanz says. He wants the government and the municipality to act firmly, to put higher fences around the already fenced-in school and to push for more frequent security patrols. For now, security guards at the school carefully check those entering the gate, and security patrols pass by every hour.

Government vows strong response

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the latest attack on the synagogue as "a war over Jerusalem" and vowed a strong response to restore law and order to all streets in the city. Authorities have stepped up security measures in the city and have also eased restrictions on reserve officers, allowing them to carry guns.

But Kinnaret Milgrom, a young Israeli mother waiting for her child at the gate of the same children's school, says she doesn't see that more security measures will help calm down the situation, since nobody is looking at the root causes of the situation. "I don't think it will pass. I think most West-Jerusalemites don't know how the situation is for Palestinians in the East part of the city, so I am very worried that it will just continue," she says. "I think they need to be taken as full citizens and given equal rights, I think that would be better for everyone. Right now it is very scary, I don't blame them for being very angry and that makes it very hard for me to protect my children because I don't know what to protect them against."

Tensions running high

The tensions have had their impact in different ways on the city. Restaurants and shops in West-Jerusalem are still busy, but the occupied East and the West of the city seem more divided than ever. On some days white surveillance balloons, operated by Israeli authorities, hang visibly over mainly Palestinian East Jerusalem and the Old City. Except for the latest deadly attack on the synagogue in the neighborhood of Har Nof, most of the attacks between Palestinians and Israelis took place along the divide between occupied East and the West. The light-rail train which runs along the line for part of its route has had its share of violence and vandalism.

Now, concrete blocks have been placed on the platforms of the tram in order to stop cars from being driven into passengers waiting to board. There is a sense of anxiety but also one of anger among some Israeli passengers. "Of course there is always a bit of fear, I think twice before using it, but again, I have not much other choice," says one Israeli tram passenger, who declined to give her name. "I think the government should react much firmer than they do," she continued. "It can't be that Arabs continue to terrorize us."

Holy sites

At the heart of the recent tensions are the events surrounding the Muslim holy sites in the Old City. A campaign by a growing minority of Jewish religious right wingers to lobby for visiting and praying on the Temple Mount is seen as the main trigger. To Jewish people, the Temple Mount site is considered to be that of the Second Temple and is the holiest place in Judaism, whereas for Muslims it is known as the Noble Sanctuary and is revered as the third holiest site in Islam.

The Israeli government has repeatedly stated that it doesn't intend to change the status quo at the holy site - which allows Jews and Christians to visit for certain hours, but not to hold prayer ceremonies on the premises. But many Muslim worshippers criticize Israeli authorities for often restricting their access to Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque especially for Friday prayers.

Fear of reprisals in East-Jerusalem

Kamal Abu Saloum, a 26 year old Palestinian Jerusalemite, can barely see the black dome of the Al Aqsa Mosque from his home just outside the Old City walls, near the neighborhood of Silwan. The Palestinian attacker who tried to assassinateYehuda Glick lived nearby. He was shot dead by Israeli security forces at his parents' house shortly after the attack. Since then, the situation in the neighborhood has been tense. Abu Saloum, a father of two young children, tried to explain the current situation: "I think there is a lot of frustration among young people. People feel suffocated. There is the issue of the Al Aqsa Mosque where we are not allowed to go and pray when we want to, or the [Israeli army] checkpoints where you are humiliated or insulted. I don't want to throw a stone or harm anybody, but people here are very frustrated."

The young man used to work as a cleaner in different Israeli companies in the Westside of the city. Now, he doesn't feel confident to cross town to work there, fearing that he might be attacked by Jewish extremists because he is Palestinian, he told DW. "There are more extreme opinions and there is a lot of hatred among people," Abu Saloum said.

His feelings are echoed on Salah El Eddin Street, the busy shopping street in the heart of occupied East-Jerusalem. People here don't feel that the current round of violence will end soon. A young man, who works in a restaurant in the Westside of town, says for now he is staying at home: "My Israeli employer told me maybe it is better to wait a bit until things calm down. Anyway, I also don't use the tram anymore. People looked at me strangely and as the only Arab in the train I didn't feel safe," the young man said, declining to give his name.

Amal El Dweik, a Palestinian Jerusalemite on a shopping trip with her kids, says that there is a lot of uneasiness among people about what is happening. And there is always fear of revenge attacks. "My son even doesn't like to go and buy something from the shop out of fear there might be some Jewish settlers bullying or attacking him," she said.

There was never much of an exchange between the two parts of the city - Israelis rarely come over to the Palestinian East side due to security concerns - but these days, Israelis and Palestinians in the city seem more divided than ever before.