Police to remove some E. Jerusalem roadblocks

Police say that due to a new assessment of the security situation in Jerusalem, some roadblocks in neighborhoods in East Jerusalem will be dismantled altogether and conditions in others will be alleviated to allow a freer traffic flow.

A roadblock in Abu Tor in the direction of Silwan, one in Jabel Mukaber and another in Umm Lison will be taken down, according to police, while roadblock conditions in Jabel Mukhtar will be eased.

Previously, roadblocks in East Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz and Sheikh Jarrah were removed and conditions at a roadblock in Issawiya were eased, according to police.

According to a police statement, the decision was made following “the achievement of a certain amount of stability” in the security situation in the capital, which was the site of many stabbing attacks and stabbing attempts last month, with most of the assailants hailing from East Jerusalem.

The last attack in Jerusalem was on Friday when an East Jerusalem resident from Kfar Aqeb stabbed an American tourist near the Ammunition Hill train station. A second man was wounded by police gunfire during an attempt to subdue the attacker, who was also shot.

Before then, the last attack in the capital was some two weeks prior.

Police warned that any change or escalation in the security situation would force it to employ “all available measures against terror perpetrators and those who break the law.”