The aftermath of the deadly Shuafat checkpoint attack, in which IDF soldier Stg. Noa Lazar was killed, saw a series of violent clashes between security forces and young Palestinians living in the refugee camp.
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Dozens shaved their heads to look like Uday Tamimi, the perpetrator, and even called each other by his name to confuse Israeli forces and complicate efforts to arrest him. Their efforts paid off until Wednesday when Tamimi was killed while trying to carry out another attack in the Ma'ale Adumim settlement outside Jerusalem.
The Palestinian population numbers around 35,000, who have lived without a leader since Faisal Husseini died in 2001. Clashes between security forces and Palestinian rioters happen regularly in Jerusalem, without intentional leadership. The only leaders are religious, and that at the neighborhood level – of heads of villages whose interests differ from the political leadership.
Nevertheless, despite the complicated situation and the perpetual clashes, the Palestinian Authority has silently agreed and given a hand to the change that has been taking place in recent years, the essence of which is financial investments by the Jerusalem municipality to bridge gaps between Arabs and Jews, and cooperation with the city officials in areas such as Israeli education, integration of institutions, and employment programs for women and youngsters aimed at integrating Palestinians into the Israeli workforce.
Although this is a result of Israel joining the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which obliges it to invest in disadvantaged populations, it has additional meanings.
So why is it that despite major investments – and despite Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon paying special attention to the Palestinian population and refraining from statements aimed against the city's Arab residents – violent clashes continue to occur frequently, disrupting these education and integration projects?
The young Arab generation lives in conflict: they are under Israeli sovereignty and accept it, but boycott the municipality and the Knesset and do not vote, for example. Alongside the investment in budgets and resources, the state must enable the growth of young leaders for the Palestinian public in Jerusalem, but it takes two to tango.
The Palestinian population, which for the most part is not interested in being under the rule of the Palestinian Authority, must work to integrate and be part of the municipal and national political system in Israel, even though this may cause a change in politics in Israel in general, and among the Arab public in the country in particular.
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