Israeli sources said that the Knesset members Yoel Hason and Marina Solodkin of Kadima party, Ya'akov Katz and Arye Eldad of National Union party, Yariv Levin of the ruling Likud party were touring a Jewish-occupied building in the heart of Silwan as part of an official visit to assess the Jewish occupiers' claim that they were being unfairly targeted by Israeli police monitoring illegal construction.

“It worries me that stones have been thrown for a long period already and nothing is being done about it, and they treat it just as some prank," Hason, also chairman of the State Control Committee, said after the tour.

"They dare to do this in Silwan when they know it's MKs despite all the security... What begins as stone throwing could end in shooting — that's what I am afraid of," he said.

For his part, Eldad said the throwing of stones at vehicles of government representatives is a sign that sovereignty has been given up and that the law is no longer enforced against Arab disturbers of peace.

"He who has led us to this situation that a Knesset member needs an armored vehicle in order to enter east Jerusalem... may lead us to the situation in which we need armored vehicles on Jerusalem's main street," Eldad said.

Silwan is home to some 60,000 Palestinians and 500 Jewish occupiers. Rightist Jewish groups say that only Jews should live on this land. The resulting friction between the tens of thousands of Palestinians and some 70 occupiers' families requires the presence of dozens of security guards and surveillance cameras.