So many prophetically significant events in the United States and Europe have been dominating headlines that few have taken note of the alarming increase in terrorist activity around Jerusalem.

On Monday night, a 19-year-old Palestinian rammed his bmw into a group of Israeli soldiers and civilians near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, injuring 17 people before the perpetrator was shot to death. It was the third attack involving a moving vehicle since July.

Also on Monday, at the Hawara checkpoint outside Jerusalem, a Palestinian woman hurled acid into the face of an idf soldier, causing him to go blind in one eye. Hawara has seen several arrests over the past two months—including that of a 16-year-old boy with two pipe bombs and a 18-year-old Palestinian found with six pipe bombs. On Wednesday afternoon, also at Hawara, a Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli soldier. He let go of his knife once the soldier cocked his weapon; he was apprehended by the other soldiers at the checkpoint.

This week, idf forces also thwarted an attack by Palestinians planning to run over a group of soldiers near the West Bank. The men were driving three vehicles—including a bulldozer—and managed to break through an army roadblock.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Shin Bet security service located a terrorist cell in the capital city, consisting of seven Palestinians, six of whom reside in East Jerusalem. The cell has carried out two attacks in the past year, resulting in the death of two border guard officers. The terrorists had planned several future attacks before being nabbed. According to Ynetnews.com:

Since 2007, Israel has seen a significant rise in the involvement of East Jerusalem Arabs in terror activity, including a plot to assassinate a Shas party minister. During this time Israeli security services thwarted seven terror attacks in the capital. … Shin Bet officials attributed the rise in East Jerusalem terror to lack of enforcement and increased Hamas activity in the capital.

According to Jerusalem’s district police commander, since the beginning of this year, 250 East Jerusalem residents have been arrested for their involvement in terrorist activities. The figure represents a sharp increase compared to 2007.

Haaretzattributes the sharp increase in terrorist activity within Jerusalem to the negative influence of propaganda playing on television and over the Internet. “Security officials are worried about what they say is growing Islamic fundamentalism in East Jerusalem,” Haaretz wrote this week.

At a press briefing in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Dr. Jonathan Fine of the International Institute for Counterterrorism said spontaneous attacks have happened before. But what worries security officials most is the increasing activity of Hamas around Jerusalem.

Today’s Christian Science Monitor posted a disturbing piece on the “The Islamization of East Jerusalem.” Ilene Prusher writes, “In Arab East Jerusalem, Islamist groups are gaining more of a foothold through charity, such as free iftar meals during Ramadan, opening schools, and offering services.” She notes (emphasis mine),

The trend comes against a backdrop of an upswing in attacks on [Israelis] perpetrated by East Jerusalemites, who had not been particularly active in the midst of the last intifada.

That has now changed—and Israel’s leadership offers little in the way of hope for ever eliminating the threat of terror in Jerusalem. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said,

No defense establishment can possibly predict a man going to sleep and receiving a visit from Allah, getting into a private vehicle, seeing a group of people and crashing into them. … Whoever talks in grandiose and bombastic slogans about Jerusalem should remember that there is no simple way to avoid this phenomenon, unless we tell the Arabs in the Arab neighborhoods: You live in your neighborhoods and stay out of ours.

Their only defense, in other words, is surrendering East Jerusalem to the terrorists. Yet, as weak as Israel’s current government is—as much as it wants to give away land for peace—East Jerusalem will not be given away. God says it will be taken by violence! “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, …” the Prophet Zechariah wrote, “and the city [Jerusalem] shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah 14:1-2).

As we wrote earlier this year, we are possibly witnessing the early stages of violence that will result in half of Jerusalem falling into the hands of terrorists. God’s prophecy shall stand!