French Hill residents call for new fence

After Issawiya rioters trash gas station, residents of Jerusalem's French Hill want a fence to divide the two neighborhoods and keep rioters out.

Assaf Kemer
Published: 09.12.14, 23:33 / Israel News

Rising ethnic tension along the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank has reached boiling point in Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood recently, and some of the area's Jewish residents are calling for a new fence to be built - one they believe would increase security and prevent Palestinians with violent motives in nearby Issawiya from crossing into the neighborhood.

The idea of a new fence is gaining ground after dozens of masked rioters from Issawiya trashed a gas station in French Hill last week. The masked men stole goods from the convenient store and tried to set the building alight using a Molotov cocktail before spilling oil on the road at the entrance to the area and damaging the gas station's fuel pumps.

The gas station incident was apparently connected to violence that erupted after the announcement that 16-year-old Mohammed Sinokrot had died of his wounds after apparently being shot by a rubber bullet from IDF troops the week prior.


French Hill residents say that while the most recent violence stemming from Sinokrot's death was the worst they've seen from Issawiya, it also wasn't the first of its kind.


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4570285,00.html