Arabs in Jerusalem blocked traffic in a number of eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods on Sunday morning in protest against police checkpoints that were set up in recent days.
Arabs barricaded the entrances to the neighborhoods of Issawiya, Jabel Mukabar, Shiloach (Silwan) and Shuafat with garbage cans and burning tires.
The checkpoints were set up by the police after a Border Policeman was killed during a terror attack at a checkpoint in northern Jerusalem on Monday.
Police forces opened up the blockaded areas.
According to a police statement, police also intervened in one neighborhood when fights broke out between Arab rioters and local Arab residents who wanted to go to work.
Staff Sgt. Asil Sawaed boarded a bus that arrived to make a routine security check when a 13-year-old Arab boy pulled out a knife and stabbed Sawaed. A civilian guard aboard the bus fired at the terrorist but hit Sawaed instead. The boy, Muhammad Zalbani, was a resident of the Shuafat neighborhood to the checkpoint. Zalbani was arrested.
On Wednesday, two Arabs were arrested at a separate checkpoint trying to smuggle a disassembled M16 rifle, ammunition and a cartridge into eastern Jerusalem from the Bethlehem area.
