The lawless streets of Kafr Aqab and Israel

• Published date: 07 January 2021
• Date: 07 January 2021
• Author: YAAKOV KATZ
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Armed Palestinians marching in Jerusalem – sounds ridiculous, right? It's not. Where the Palestinians marched was a neighborhood of Jerusalem called Kafr Aqab, located north of Pisgat Ze'ev and separated from the rest of the city by a massive concrete wall. But here's the thing: it is part of Jerusalem, and thus legally speaking no different than Pisgat Ze'ev, Gilo or the German Colony.

The Palestinian policemen deployed in Kafr Aqab after a weekend of violence, murder and mayhem, which Israel preferred to ignore. The action started on Friday when two cousins from the al-Rajabi clan got into a fight over a parking spot, a rare commodity in the overpopulated neighborhood known for its high-rise apartment buildings that lack underground parking.

One of the cousins shot the other, critically wounding him. The next day, another cousin opened fire on a group of men from the family. The three were killed. Knowing that the Israeli police would not enter the village – they consistently don't – residents called the Palestinian Authority. The problem is that the PA has no jurisdiction in Kafr Aqab, which is – again – part of municipal Jerusalem and sovereign Israeli territory.

Hussein al-Sheikh, PA civil affairs minister, contacted the IDF Civil Administration and asked for permission to deploy his policemen to restore order and apprehend the suspected shooters. Israel gave permission, and a day later the PA police tracked down four suspects and brought them to the Qalandiya Checkpoint near Jerusalem, where they were transferred to Israeli police custody.

In other words, Israel dared not apprehend criminal suspects in Jerusalem. It needed the Palestinian police.

ON MONDAY, together with The Post's Palestinian Affairs reporter Khaled Abu Toameh, I visited Kafr Aqab. We wanted to get a sense of the mood in the neighborhood after the murders, and hear directly from the local residents.

Captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, Kafr Aqab was incorporated into Jerusalem's municipal boundaries shortly afterward. Prime minister Levi Eshkol's cabinet had three primary considerations for expanding Jerusalem's borders at that time: protecting Israel in the event of another war; guaranteeing Israel retained sovereignty over the Old City; and ensuring that if Israel had to withdraw from the newly conquered West Bank, at least it would be able to hold onto an enlarged capital.

Back then there were maybe a few hundred Palestinians who lived in Kafr Aqab, in sprawling...