While senior police officials are reporting that at present, there is no indication of reawakening of violence among Arabs, police are adding reinforcements to the capital ahead of Pesach in a precautionary move.

Commanders in the capital express satisfaction over the response of troops in recent days, including the Shabbos afternoon stabbing attack in the Old City, but they are playing it safe as Yomtov approaches amid awareness there will be hundreds of thousands of visitors to the capital during Pesach. This has led Jerusalem Police Chief Yoram Halevy to order the increase in manpower.

While there are no concrete intelligence warnings, police prefer to play it safe, aware Hamas is always working to strike out against Israel. In addition, there is the fear of a lone wolf attacker, as was the case on motzei Shabbos and last Wednesday, 2 Nissan, when border police shot a terrorist in an attempted stabbing attack at Shar Shechem.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)