U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting in Amman this weekend with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, custodian of the site, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to clarify those rules.
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In answer to a reporter’s question, Kirby said that the status quo on the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, “has not been observed, which has led to a lot of the violence”. “Incitement from Hamas, incitement from the Islamist movement in Israel, and incitement, I am sorry to say, from President Abbas”, he said. “I think it’s time that the worldwide community told President Abbas to stop the incitement and hold him accountable for his words and his deeds”.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida said Abbas, during Ban’s visit, stressed the urgent need of maintaining the “historical status” of al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. “All of that is false”.
Fears among Muslims that Israel intends to make changes at the hilltop plateau, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, have helped fuel a rash of stabbings and other attacks in recent weeks.
Israeli officials have pointed specifically at a statement by Abbas last month describing Palestinian violence as supported by Allah.
That has set off widespread concern among Palestinians that the status quo is being undermined and that division of the site is coming – a claim the Israeli government has repeatedly denied.
Yesterday, two men from the same village stabbed a man in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh before being shot.
In Vienna, the Quartet of Mideast mediators – the U.S., U.N., European Union and Russia- issued a statement calling on Israel and the Palestinian leadership to show “maximum restraint and avoidance of provocative rhetoric and actions”.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the attackers were shot by police who responded to the assault.
A Jewish Israeli man was shot and killed in Jerusalem late Wednesday during an altercation with soldiers who thought he might be a Palestinian attacker, a sign of the tension gripping the city.
Palestinian security forces said the assailant was from the nearby village of Sureif. Nine Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbing attacks by Palestinian youths.
Also on Thursday, an alleged Palestinian assailanvt tried to stab an Israeli soldier stationed in Hebron.
Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency said the men, both about 20 years old, have records of militant activity.
“It’s very important to settle on the steps that can be taken that take us beyond the condemnations, beyond the rhetoric”, Kerry said. The police did not provide further details on the bus, including whether it was a school bus.
“Later this week I will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu because he will be in Germany… we will meet there”, Kerry said Sunday at UNESCO headquarters, the French news agency AFP reported.
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While in Berlin, Kerry will also meet with his German counterpart and European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, before traveling on Friday to Vienna for talks on the conflict in Syria with his Russian, Turkish and Saudi counterparts.
