Clashes in Jerusalem
Photo: AFP
Tel Aviv schools skip Jerusalem trip over tension
Parents of eighth grade students request schools cancel planned trip due to recent violence.
Schools in Tel Aviv have postponed class trips to Jerusalem this week because of heightened tensions in the city, city officials said Sunday.
Tel Aviv officials said in a statement that there is "no sweeping instruction" to cancel school visits to Jerusalem, and another trip to Jerusalem scheduled for city schools next week would still take place.
The municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial and cultural center, said it honored a request by parents of 8th grade pupils to postpone a field trip planned for most Tel Aviv schools this week because it included visits to areas where violence recently occurred.
Last week a Palestinian terrorist slammed his car into a crowded light rail train station, killing a 3-month-old girl who was a US citizen and wounding eight people. The municipality said pupils were scheduled to visit a nearby site.
Arab youths hurling rocks in east Jerusalem (Photo: Getty Images)
But the cancellation of this week's trip angered Jerusalem city officials. In a statement, the municipality said Jerusalem is "a safe and open city" and canceling trips would "reward those who are disturbing the peace."
Riot police in Silwan, east Jerusalem (Photo: Mohammed Shinawi)
In recent months, clashes have erupted at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli police. Similar clashes erupted elsewhere in east Jerusalem.
Tensions began rising this summer. In June, Palestinians with ties to Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teens in the West Bank. In July, Israelis kidnapped and killed a Palestinian teen in Jerusalem in a revenge attack.
The unrest continued throughout the summer after Israel attacked Gaza in response to heavy Hamas rocket fire, sparking a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas.
The arrival of Jewish nationalists into the heart of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan, coupled with clashes at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, have further fueled the tensions in the city.
Shattered window of bus in Jerusalem
Palestinian youths have clashed frequently with Israeli police, thrown stones and firebombs at Israeli motorists and disrupted service of the city's light rail train – a service meant to unify the city.
Israeli police said it was beefing up security in Jerusalem on Sunday with a few thousand extra police officers and special forces patrolling the city "as long as needed to bring back a sense of security for all the residents," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
An Israeli court ruled that only 20 people may attend a funeral Sunday for the Palestinian motorist who was shot by Israeli police after he slammed his car into the train station last week. Police requested a small ceremony to prevent rioting, Samri said.
The motorist's family had petitioned the court to relax restrictions on funeral attendance but the court rejected the petition, Samri said.
