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The residents of East and West Jerusalem have lived side by side, if not together, for 40 years, ever since Israel seized the Arab side of the city from Jordan during the 1967 Middle East War.
The union has rarely been a happy one. But recent incidents have residents on both sides viewing each other with renewed suspicion and anxiety.
"There is no relationship" between mostly Arab East Jerusalem and the predominantly Jewish western neighborhoods, said Khalil Tafakji, a Palestinian geographer and map specialist. East Jerusalem's Arab residents "go to the west to work and then return home and that's it," he said.
West Bank barrier: An article in Monday's Section A about divisions between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem said a "massive concrete barrier" separates Israel from much of the West Bank. The barrier is a series of walls, trenches and fences and is not all concrete.
Last week, a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem driving an earthmover killed three people and wounded dozens in a rampage downtown. In March, an Arab from East Jerusalem killed eight young students in a yeshiva.
The two incidents have revived public demands for action, and Israeli politicians appear ready to answer that call.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the destruction of the homes of both attackers -- a punishment once frequently meted out in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip but rarely used in East Jerusalem. The attorney general's office has given the green light, but the demolitions may not take place for several weeks.
In the meantime, Israelis, who feel safer thanks to a massive concrete barrier sealing off their nation from much of the West Bank, are openly debating what many believe is a renewed threat from within.
An editorial in the Jerusalem Post last week fretted about "a trend toward radicalization" among East Jerusalem's estimated 200,000 Arabs.
"They may work for Jews; they may receive health and social benefits from the Zionist state, but culturally and politically they are inseparable from the surrounding Arab milieu," the editorial stated. "They watch the same satellite TV and hear preachers espousing the same radical messages as their compatriots in the West Bank and Gaza."
Tafakji denied that Arabs in Jerusalem represent a threat, but acknowledged that anger and alienation have been building in recent years.
Cultural and social differences separate East Jerusalem residents from other Arabs who were absorbed into Israel with varying degrees of success when the state was created in 1948. Arab Israelis often speak Hebrew and can vote and run for office in the Jewish state.
