Fatah terrorists (file)
Fatah terrorists (file)Flash 90

A group of armed terrorists held an impromptu march through the streets of an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem, in the latest illustration of the growing lawlessness in Arab-majority sections of the capital.

The men - at least one of whom appears to be carrying a Fatah flag - fired in the air in what Quds News Network described as a show of force against "clients of the occupation, drug dealers and sowers of corruption."

The demonstration apparently took place in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, just two kilometers away from the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Ramallah.

Jewish residents of Jerusalem have complained for months of an alarming spike in violence against Jews and Jewish-owned property, particularly in Arab-majority neighborhoods and the French Hill area.

In some cases, Arab extremists have targeted Jewish civilians and Israeli police with live gunfire, as well as rocks, molotov cocktails and fireworks. Several Jewish families who accidentally strayed into predominantly Arab neighborhoods have been targeted by anti-Semitic lynch-mobs

Residents are describing the violence as a "silent intifada", and accuse security officials and local authorities of not doing enough to stamp out the problem. A recent protest by embattled residents singled out Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich out for criticism, accusing him of not enabling police to deal with the problem.

Stung by the criticism, Aharonovich joined the Jerusalem District Police Chief in a tour of some of the effected areas, and vowed a crackdown.

A string of arrests have followed those pledges, but critics say authorities are still ignoring the root problem of a general state of lawlessness and lack of Israeli sovereignty in parts of the capital.