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Jabel Mukaber (Template:Lang-ar Template:Lang-he, also transcribed Jabal Mukaber or Jabal Mukkaber) is a predominantly Arab Israeli settlement located in southern part of East Jerusalem. It is bordered closely by the Jewish neighbourhood of Armon Hanatziv to the west, the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour to the north and the Arab neighbourhood of Sur Baher to the south. Jabel Mukaber has a population of approximately 14,000 residents.

Like other Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, the fate of Jabel Mukaber is unclear. High-ranking Israeli officials have proposed that Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem that lie outside of the Old City could form part of the capital for the proposed Palestinian state. The Israeli government and some of Jerusalem's Jewish residents consider Jabel Mukaber a hotbed for terrorism and an obstacle to the peace process, citing militant activity and support for terrorism from among some of its residents.

History

Jabel Mukaber is named after Umar ibn al-Khattab, a disciple of Muhammad and the second caliph of the Islamic Caliphate, who cried out "Allahu Akbar" on the site of the neighborhood. During the British Mandate in Palestine, the offices of the British High Commissioner, the representative of British imperial rule in Palestine were located in Jabel Mukaber. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood battled Jewish forces in the neighborhood. Jabel Mukaber and other Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem were captured and annexed by Jordan. After Israel captured the area in the 1967 war, East Jerusalem was annexed. Though the annexation lacks international recognition, most of Jabel Mukaber is currently governed by Israel.

Residents

Like most of the 240,000 Arabs in East Jerusalem, most residents of Jabel Mukaber rejected the notion of taking on Israeli citizenship, underlining their solidarity with fellow Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Those residents of Jabel Mukaber who are considered inhabitants of Jerusalem carry a blue Israeli identity card which permits them to travel throughout Israel.. Blue ID holders are Israeli residents and enjoy the civil liberties and rights of all Israeli citizens, except for the right to vote in the Israeli Parlimentary elections, and the ability to obtain an Israeli passport. The construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier has divided Jabel Mukaber in half and left some neighborhood residents on the West Bank side of the wall, meaning that they hold orange IDs instead of blue IDs, and cannot cross into Israel itself. Running through the centre of the neighbourhood, the barrier often separates members of the same family from one another, interrupting normal family life. Many of the residents of Jabel Mukaber are quite poor, and the neighbourhood lacks proper schools, public services and law enforcement. There are few serviceable roads, no sidewalks, no street lighting and no mail service.

Co-existence and tension

From its integration into the State of Israel (1967-) up until the mid 1980s, the residents of Jabel Mukaber lived in relative harmony with their Jewish neighbours, often travelling on a daily basis to their jobs in West Jerusalem. The Jewish neighbourhood of Armon HaNatziv was established in 1970 in close proximity to Jabel Mukaber during the upswing of building that followed the Six-Day War. However with the onset of the First Intifada, many of the residents became embittered with the State of Israel and comitted violence in order to achieve independence. Since then, Jabel Mukaber has been the scene of numerous demonstrations, protests and riots, usually perpetrated although not limited to, Israeli Right-Wing activists, in response to militant activites stemming from the neighbourhood. Although, many of the participants of the recent protests that have been protesting continuous militant activity from the neighbourhood, have come from different sections of Israeli society.
From the First Intifada until the present day, the residents of the neighborhood have been involved in numerous attacks on Israelis including:

• Two young residents were convicted for the transportation of a suicide bomber from Bethlehem who perpetrated the Patt junction bus bombing on June 18, 2002, killing 19 people and wounding over 74.
• On June 27, 2006, a Palestinian man from Jabel Mukaber fired at Israeli police injuring one Border Guard; he was later shot dead.
• Jabel Mukaber is perhaps best known as being the place of residence of the perpetrator of the Mercaz HaRav massacre, Alaa Abu Dhein. Following the attack, which killedeight people, the residents of Jabel Mukaber erected a tent in his honour, and consequentially hundreds of Israeli protesters tried to break through police barricades outside Jabel Mukaber, in order destroy the attacker's house and tear down the tent. Thirteen protester were arrested by Israeli Police.
• In the 2008 BMW terror attack a man from Jabel Mukaber rammed a group of Israelis with the BMW he was driving.

See also

• List of places in Jerusalem
• List of East Jerusalem locations
• East Jerusalem

References

• Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem
• Villages in the West Bank
• Jerusalem Governorate
• Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem
• Arab-Israeli settlements