Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) toured with Jerusalem Municipality Dov Kalmanovitz and Yael Entebi in Jerusalem's Shuafat neighborhood Tuesday, where they exposed the illegal Arab construction in the neighborhood for news cameras.
Both Ariel and the Council members noted that Shuafat has been known for its weapons caches, loudest Muslim muezzin (prayer tower) calls, and shooting attacks on Jewish residents of Jerusalem.
They reported complaints of residents who fear the security situation and the minimal involvement of the Israel Police at the site. According to Entebi, "people can sit on their porch and suddenly feel a bullet graze them."
"It turns out that there are parts of Jerusalem that Israel is not sovereign over and does not control - and it's happening right here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel," Ariel said. "[Solving this] requires a special effort of all of us and I will work with other members to exercise their sovereignty in this area."
City Councilwoman Yael Entebi said that "the lack of enforcing the construction regulations [here] is seen in other areas such as security, and there are lots of illegal aliens and weapons caches. The Wild West is here, and it has spread throughout the Jerusalem municipality."
City Councilman Dov Kalmanovitz added, "There is no sovereignty here on the civil level, the planning level, or the legal level as it should be. The residents of [nearby] Pisgat Ze'ev suffer from this."