Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers at the weekly government meeting Monday he plans to increase security in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria due to the rising Arab violence in those areas.
It is not clear how this may or may not affect security arrangements on the Temple Mount.
Netanyahu said that among the security measures to be addressed with be an increase in the number of forces on the ground, and additional armor protection for patrol vehicles in order to raise the level of safety for Israeli citizens.
There has been an increase in the number of terror attacks aimed at Israeli civilians and security forces over the past several months – not only in Judea and Samaria, but in Jerusalem as well.
Data released in a report this month by the Construction Ministry showed there were 580 Arab attacks against civilians and security personnel just in three sections of the Old City of Jerusalem during the months of July and August.
Not included in those data are the number of attacks in other parts of the capital, and the number of attacks in Judea and Samaria for the same period.
Just yesterday, (Sunday, August 30) a 46-year-old Israeli Jewish resident of Judea and Samaria barely escaped alive after at least five shots were fired at his vehicle in a drive-by terror attack near the Jit Junction in Samaria.
Palestinian Arab terrorists fired at his car from a passing vehicle near the Jewish community of Kedumim early Sunday afternoon, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
The driver miraculously escaped with a light gunshot wound to his hand. The terrorists, meanwhile, were seen to be driving on into territory controlled solely by the Palestinian Authority, according to a report broadcast on Israel Radio. The IDF is investigating.