The car-ramming attack in which 12 soldiers were injured was the first in months and apparently came with no warning. Later Thursday morning, an Arab Israeli armed with a pistol shot a police officer near the Lion's Gate security near the Temple Mount area. And a short time ago, reports of a shooting near Dolev, lightly injuring an Israeli soldier. These events occurring soon after renewed violence against IDF soldiers in Hevron.

Rosenfeld stated security assessments are being made for Friday prayers on the Temple Mount. Last Friday police stopped a group from protesting after early morning prayers, preventing the potential to riot.

After conducting a security tour at the tunnels checkpoint in Gush Etzion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I would also like to say something to Abu Mazen: This will not help you – not the stabbings, not the car-rammings, not the sniping and not the incitement. We will do everything necessary to protect our security, to set our borders, [and] to ensure our future. We will do this together with you or without you." 

Following US President Donald Trump White House announcement of his vision for a peace and prosperity plan, Israeli security services have been monitoring and watching for responses in the neighborhoods surrounding Jerusalem.

Earlier this week, BJL was on a media tour that included two Arab villages bordering Israeli Jerusalem to hear the reactions to the proposals. Officials assumed they knew what the proposal said because of reported leaks and either did not read it or listened to parts on Al-Jazeera with Arabic translations.

After the Oslo Accords in the 1990s in Abu Dis, a parliament building was under construction to be the seat of a projected Palestinian government. The huge structure was never finished and stands as an abandoned shell, with Arafat's office view of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

From Abu Dis, the distance to the Old City is an easy walk. However, when the security wall was built, it divided Abu Dis and blocked passage and the views from homes near it. One private home constructed between the security wall and the abandoned parliament building has the upper illegal floors, destroyed but remaining.

Israeli security is near the wall on the other side of this elaborate building, not to be confused as the parliament building next to it.

On a tour of Abu Dis, Ahmad Abu Hilal, businessman, and mayor of Abu Dis stood on a rooftop with the Old City in the background to speak with foreign media. A brief part of his comments on Jerusalem:

Also near to Jerusalem, on the southeast slope of the Mount of Olives, is Ezariyeh or Aizaria, also called Bethany, location of the Tomb of Lazarus, popular with Christian tourists.

Some residents of both towns have Israeli work permits and travel to Jerusalem. However, many do not and unemployment is high, and young people who make up a large percentage of the population leave looking for better opportunities. 

Issam Faroun, mayor of Ezariyeh spoke about the new generation and ending his comments on racism in Israel.

Khaled al Daher, Fatah activist in Ezariyeh spoke in Arabic with the translator about people's reactions. 

Jamal Basa, secretary-general of Fatah movement in Ezariyeh spoke in Arabic also with a translator, in his remarks of UN 242 Resolution and ends with commenting Israel controls not only land but water resources.

On Jerusalem, the consensus was stated to be united with Arafat: "Jerusalem is a red line, no one can give up one centimeter." The Palestinian Authority wants '67 borders and the Old City Jerusalem, East Jerusalem, with no Palestinian giving up East Jerusalem in 100 years. 

Soldiers wounded in the car-ramming arrived on crutches to their swearing-in ceremony at the Kotel hours after the terror attack. What happens in Jerusalem on Friday with Muslim prayers at the Temple Mount will be watched closely. 

The photo essay includes images from mentioned vantage points to illustrate the complexity on the ground, from the bus in transit, and of Fatah offices.