After the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem has decided to play very loud music, in defiance of the volume and disturbance of the sound of the muezzin at the mosque in nearby Al-Issawiya, two additional Jewish neighborhoods, Pisgat Ze’ev and Har Choma, have announced that they, too, will take up a similar approach. French Hill also decided to go with hard rock, and not Mediterranean tunes, as had originally been planned, because, as they put it, hard rock is more likely to deliver the message.
According to Yediot Jerusalem, the French Hill neighborhood has recently approached an amplification company with an order for four huge speakers to be directed at Al-Isawiya. As soon as the village muezzin will start his exceedingly loud prayer, it will be responded to with ear shattering Rock n’ Roll, letting local Arabs understand how disturbing the loud prayers have been to their Jewish neighbors.
Har Choma and Pisgat Ze’ev residents are waiting to see the results from the French Hill “pilot.” If the protest via rock blasts succeeds, the other two neighborhoods, situated on the border of the Jerusalem municipality, will follow suit.
Har Choma residents are coping with the sound of the muezzin from the villages of Umm Tuba and Sur Baher. Pisgat Ze’ev residents receive their 5 daily Muslim inspiration calls from Beit Hanina, Shuafat and Anata.
Jerusalem’s city hall has attempted to negotiated between Al-Issawiya village head Darwish Darwish and the residents of French Hill. Darwish promised to regulate the noise level, but the French Hill residents are saying nothing has changed, and the muezzin call continue to reach unbearable decibels.