At the UN Human Rights Council, Abbas took aim at Netanyahu’s recent remarks on former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini’s relationship with Adolf Hitler.
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Stressing that peace and stability would not be achieved unless the Israeli occupation is and an independent Palestinian state is obtained, Mr. Abbas said the he had repeatedly warned of the consequences of what has been happening in Jerusalem and its surroundings, which includes “tightening the noose around the necks of the population and violation of civil, political, economic and social rights”.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council, Abbas asked the Security Council to “urgently… set up a special regime for worldwide protection for the Palestinian people”.
Abbas accused Israel of “extrajudicial killings of defenceless Palestinian civilians, (and having) detained their corpses, including children”.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians were sparked last month by Israeli incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site for Muslims.
Mr. Zeid added that the stabbing and shooting and vehicle attacks that have targeted Israelis are also “totally unjustifiable”.
Netanyahu’s office reacted swiftly with a statement late Monday recalling his promise to maintain the status quo which allows Muslims to pray at the site, and Jews to visit but not pray there.
Eyewitnesses and rights groups investigations have reported several cases where Palestinians were deliberately shot dead when they posed no imminent threat.
Israeli and Jordanian officials said Tuesday that new surveillance cameras should be installed within days at the walled Jerusalem shrine at the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence, with the goal of streaming the footage live on the Internet for maximum transparency.
A army spokesman stated that they had been killed.
“The terrorist’s family makes his funeral a show of support for terrorism and incitement to murder and we can not allow it”, Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan said in mid-October when the measure was announced.
Activists in the area said they heard six gunshots before seeing Israeli soldiers placing a knife near Said’s body. In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli woman. Hours later, another Palestinian was shot and killed by soldiers after he tried to stab an Israeli, the military said.
With Palestinians accusing Israel of trying to seize administrative control of the site, and Israel claiming the mosque compound is being used by Palestinian youth to stage unruly protests, the installation of cameras was proposed this weekend as a means of verifying the conflicting allegations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the visit by Basel Ghattas, a Christian lawmaker with the Arab-Jewish Joint List faction, was a “provocation” that could only further “inflame the situation”.
Jordan is sharply criticizing the Palestinian Authority’s rejection of an initiative to install security cameras on the Temple Mount, veteran Palestinian affairs reporter Khaled Abu Toameh wrote Tuesday in The Jerusalem Post.
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On Tuesday, Netanyahu reprimanded Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who said in an interview that it was her dream to see an Israeli flag fly on the site.
