While tensions remain high, the focus of the Palestinian attacks appears to have shifted over the past few days from Jerusalem and cities across Israel to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and their frequency has also declined.
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Fresh violence erupted on Tuesaday evening (local time), with two Palestinians shot dead in the West Bank after stabbing an Israeli soldier.
A proposal to install surveillance cameras at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in a bid to ease recent tensions in the area has left Palestinians and Israelis at odds over implementation.
The military says the Palestinian drew a knife at an army post before forces shot him.
Since October, 11 Israelis have been killed in attacks, and at least 60 Palestinians were killed in clashes or following stabbing attacks, officials and media said.
The Palestinian leaders also lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for exploiting the Holocaust to attack the Palestinians and turning the blame to them rather than Nazi German to the consternation of many scholars.
Israeli forces have responded harshly to the growing unrest, using live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas and sound grenades.
Israel says the age restrictions are a security measure, since most of the people who clash with police are young Palestinian males.
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.
But Abbas said Wednesday that “it is no longer useful to waste time in negotiations” and warned that a continuation of the current violence could “kill the last shred of hope for the two-state-solution-based peace”.
Israeli security forces shot dead one of the assailants and captured the other, police said.
“For Palestinians, and the Arab and Muslim worlds generally, their fear has centred on the perceived increasing aggressiveness of Israeli attitudes toward this compound, strongly suggesting a desire to alter the status quo”, Mr. Zeid said.
In one incident, the Israeli military said soldiers had approached two Palestinians they found acting suspiciously at a junction near a Jewish settlement.
The speech came amid new violence between Palestinians and Israelis.
The poll also showed that 56% Israelis voted that East Jerusalem moves under Palestinian Authority (PA) control, and 34% opposed.
In 2007, Salah urged “all Muslims and Arabs (to) start an intifada (uprising) to support holy Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque”. “And it is equally important for Palestinian leaders to cease the incitement of violence and to offer something more than rhetoric”.
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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.
