Israeli security forces deployed massively in Beit-ul-Moqaddas as Israelis armed themselves with everything from guns to broomsticks, rattled by a wave of Palestinian attacks that have shaken the country.
Israel has mobilized some 300 soldiers to reinforce police stretched thin by the unrest, AFP reported.
They are due to be in place by Sunday, while conscripts wearing fluorescent vests marked "police" could already be seen guarding Tel Aviv's bus station.
The last time soldiers deployed in such large numbers was in 2002, during the second intifada, according to a security source.
At stops along the highway between Beit-ul-Moqaddas and the West Bank city of Al-Khalil, a major junction to other points in the occupied territory, border police were boarding and searching every bus.
In addition to the attacks, violent protests have rocked annexed east Beit-ul-Moqaddas, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Seven Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded in the violence so far.
At least 30 Palestinians have also died, including alleged attackers, and hundreds more been wounded in clashes with Israeli forces.
In the first two intifadas, in 1987-1993 and 2000-05, thousands of people were killed and many more hurt in near daily violence.
Israel's best-selling newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, included photos Thursday of Jews arming themselves with even broomsticks and rolling pins, as gun sellers said demand had skyrocketed.
