Jerusalem, said "thrice holy" battered city

The spiral of vengeance does not stop in Jerusalem. Since June, Israelis and Palestinians are counting their dead. No one seems able to break this cycle of retaliation that engulfed the city called "thrice holy" and fears of a new intifada and its repression.

However, Friday was relief. After weeks of tension around the sensitive site of the Temple Mount, Muslims have to pray. For four months the site was placed under surveillance and restricted access. Palestinians denounced the frequent visits of Jewish extremists on that call them on their side "the Temple Mount." Visits perceived as provocations.

For weeks, it's all East Jerusalem, the Palestinian side of the holy city occupied and annexed by Israel, which is faced with deadly violence. The Essaouiya neighborhood aggregation 20,000 people at the foot of Mount Scopus, Israeli enclave in East Jerusalem is in turmoil since July and the killing of a Palestinian teenager. He was burned alive by Jewish extremists in retaliation for the murder of three young Israelis in the West Bank a month ago.

The green light Wednesday by the Palestinian Authority for the construction of 200 new homes in the residential neighborhood of Ramot put oil on the fire and accentuated an already volatile atmosphere. Ramot is located in the northwest of the Arab part of the city occupied since 1967.

Ignoring international condemnation, Israel continues its policy of expansion and construction of housing units beyond the Green Line and thus in the Arab part of Jerusalem or 196,000 settlers already living alongside 282,000 Palestinian residents.

In the West Bank, the number of settlers amounted to nearly 311,000, according to the census of the Israeli NGO Peace Now, and 2.36 million Palestinians.

Ramot is not the only area affected. In late October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to launch the construction of 600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo and 400 others in the neighborhood of Har Homa, also located in the eastern part of the city. The international community considers illegal annexation and occupation of East Jerusalem. She believes that the continuation of Israeli settlement in the Palestinian part of Jerusalem is one of the major factors in the climate of violence that fear flashover.