East Jerusalem Jewish Residents: "Arab Rock-Throwing A Daily Problem"

The Jerusalem Post reports that while the unrest that plagued Jerusalem in October seems "to have all but died out, residents of Ma'aleh Zeitim, a large bloc of apartments next to the Mount of Olives Cemetery in east Jerusalem, say that in their neighborhood, Jewish-owned vehicles are being stoned almost daily. While the area was eventually brought under control, Ma'aleh Zeitim residents pointed to the Succot rioting as the beginning of an upswing in rock-throwing incidents, which, they added, were not commonplace beforehand and have not ebbed since. 'Just yesterday my neighbor's car was hit with a rock while she was driving by the neighborhood square,' said Shabach, a Ma'aleh Zeitim resident who spoke to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. 'My car was hit recently as well, when I was driving by the Mount of Olives [Cemetery],' he added. 'It's really happening a lot. We're hearing about rock-throwing more and more often.' Shabach added that while he felt police weren't being idle, there was only so much they could do. 'A lot of the people throwing rocks are little kids," he said. "And it's hard to stop them.' Other residents echoed Shabach's statements, telling the Post that they had personally experienced the rock-throwing in recent weeks and believed it was a growing problem. 'It happens multiple times a day,' said another Ma'aleh Zeitim resident, who asked to remain unnamed. 'They're targeting private cars, Egged buses and private transport vans that are usually taking kids to and from school.' 'It's not just kids,' he added. 'There are adults taking part in the rock-throwing as well.' 'The atmosphere in the neighborhood has changed,' he continued. 'People used to be friendlier, and something has changed.' The resident said that while the rock-throwing was taking place on a regular basis, he also claimed that police were dissuading residents from filing complaints about the violence. 'You go down to the station and they tell you to come back [later],' he said. 'It should be that when you go to the police to file a complaint, they file a complaint.'" Tweet