"The Mount of Olives security staff confronts drug addicts
and criminal elements almost every night and summons the
police, who come to remove them from the premises only to
return," reported Minister Gidon Ezra.
He noted the Security Department of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs has assigned a special security team with an armored
vehicle to patrol the area day and night. Its tasks include
"providing armed escort for families members who want to
visit the graves of their loved ones and have not come since
the events of October 2000."
Ezra also said, "It is difficult to be everywhere at any
given time. Most of the drug addicts live on the mountain
itself and various sections of the cemetery are located near
their homes. On more than one occasion Ministry security
guards at the Mount of Olives have arrested children in the
act of vandalizing and handed them over to the police for
interrogating and handling.
"The Ministry of Religious Affairs has a detailed shelf plan
to solve the problem, such as erecting manned guard towers,
installing cameras and fences as well as other means which,
due to their high cost, have not yet gone into operation."
The cost to carry out the plan would include a one-time
outlay of NIS 1.2 million ($270,000) for cameras, guard
towers and additional security personnel, and running annual
expenses of NIS 2.4 million ($540,000).
Ezra did not reject an idea raised during the Knesset plenum
to organize a citizens' watch to patrol and guard the Mount
of Olives.
MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman denounced the deeds being carried out
at the cemetery and said if similar acts were perpetrated at
a Jewish cemetery anywhere else in the world the Knesset
would have cried out and raised its voice in protest with
claims of antisemitism.
