Nine months ago, Itamar Ben Gvir helped fuel tensions in East Jerusalem.
In the embattled district of Sheikh Jarrah, the ultra-right Israeli member of the Knesset symbolically and provocatively opened a “campaign office” on the street, actually a tent.
The clashes between Jewish settlers, who are supported by Ben Gvir and his party, and Palestinians then intensified - even if he broke up his tent after a short time at the request of then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A few days later, after a series of further escalation steps, there was an armed conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Christian Meier
Political correspondent for the Middle East and Northeast Africa.
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The politician from the Jewish Strength party reopened his temporary office in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday.
He left no doubt about his intentions.
"We are the masters of the house," he announced in a statement, and that "one must respond to terror with terror."
Further riots immediately broke out in the district north of the old town. Videos showed, among other things, Israelis and Palestinians beating each other with chairs.
The police stepped in.
Two people were arrested by late afternoon.
The riots began on Friday evening.
The house of a Jewish settler family burned - presumably it was arson by Palestinians.
According to members of the family, there had been several attacks before, including setting the family car on fire several times.
On Saturday, Ben Gvir announced he would return to his office in Sheikh Jarrah pending round-the-clock protection for the family - who were not at the home at the time of the alleged arson attack.
"If the residents don't get police protection, then I will protect them," he said.
At the same time, right-wing Jewish activists gathered in the area.
In the evening there were riots between them and the Palestinians, including both sides throwing stones at each other.
There were several injuries and property damage.
The police ordered additional units into the district and six people were arrested.
Among them was a Palestinian who hit a 20-year-old Israeli with his car.
The 21-year-old driver told police that he had previously been pepper sprayed by Jewish demonstrators and then accidentally hit the man.
According to media reports, the police ruled out a terrorist motive.
Ben Gvir then arrived in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday morning, he and other Jewish activists gathered in front of the home of a Palestinian family whose eleven members are to be evicted from their home in March.
who hit a 20-year-old Israeli with his car.
The 21-year-old driver told police that he had previously been pepper sprayed by Jewish demonstrators and then accidentally hit the man.
According to media reports, the police ruled out a terrorist motive.
Ben Gvir then arrived in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday morning, he and other Jewish activists gathered in front of the home of a Palestinian family whose eleven members are to be evicted from their home in March.
who hit a 20-year-old Israeli with his car.
The 21-year-old driver told police that he had previously been pepper sprayed by Jewish demonstrators and then accidentally hit the man.
According to media reports, the police ruled out a terrorist motive.
Ben Gvir then arrived in Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday morning, he and other Jewish activists gathered in front of the home of a Palestinian family whose eleven members are to be evicted from their home in March.
Even Hamas gets involved
Government members were cautiously critical of Ben Gvir's action.
His presence in the area will not help calm tempers, Public Security Ministry director-general Tomer Lotan said on the radio.
Mossi Raz, a deputy from the left-wing Meretz party, was more blunt: whoever announced plans to open an office in the Palestinian district of Sheikh Jarrah was "trying to set fire and start a war, like last May," he said.
Hamas also intervened in the escalating conflict and called on all Palestinians to join the struggle in the West Bank.
A spokesman for the Islamist organization, Mohammad Hamadeh, warned that the settlers' and Ben Gvir's aggression was playing with fire.
Ben Gvir replied on Sunday,
For years, Sheikh Jarrah has repeatedly been the scene of peaceful protests, but also violent clashes.
In recent years, settler organizations have increasingly attempted to use a regulation that would allow Palestinians to be evicted from their homes by legal means.
The Palestinian residents were settled there after Israel's founding, when East Jerusalem was under Jordanian occupation.
Some of the houses in Sheikh Jarrah had been inhabited by Jews since the late 19th century, who named the area Shimon HaZadik after the tomb of a local Jewish high priest from the Second Temple period.
The rights of descendants of these Jewish residents are often exercised by settler organizations.
Most of the current Palestinian residents fled what is now Israeli territory, such as West Jerusalem, during the 1948 war.
The Israeli government will not allow them to return there.