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Kerry urges halt in Israeli-Palestinian violence

An Israeli government source said Netanyahu told Kerry in their meeting that, to curb violence, Abbas and King Abdullah should publicly declare the status quo had not changed.

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Kerry said it takes more than rhetoric to stop the violence in the region.

“It is absolutely critical to end all incitement, to end all violence and to find a road forward to build the possibility which is not there today for a larger process”, he said.

An Israeli soldier shot and killed a Jewish man he suspected was a Palestinian “terrorist” in Jerusalem, police said Thursday, in a reflection of the jittery mood that has gripped Israelis amid a spate of near-daily Palestinian stabbing attacks.

Granted, trained law enforcement and military officials should know better than to act impulsively out of fear, but knowing that just in the last month 10 Israelis and 48 Palestinians have been killed in these attacks makes it a little more believable that officers would be skeptical of anyone who initiates confrontation.

Ten Israelis and 47 Palestinians have been killed in attacks and clashes in the month-long violence, which started amid uproar over the holy site of the al-Aqsa compound in east Jerusalem.

“I think it is time for the global community to say clearly to President Abbas to stop spreading lies about Israel”, he said.

The tensions are centered on the Al Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is the third-holiest site in Islam and is revered by Jews as the site of two ancient temples.

Palestinians say that ultra-Orthodox and national-religious Jews are exploiting the rules to enter the area, called the Noble Sanctuary by Muslims and the Temple Mount by Jews, in growing numbers and surreptitiously pray there, in breach of the status quo.

Netanyahu will demand the US puts pressure on Abbas to condemn the latest stabbings of Israelis and to stop what he considers incitement by Palestinian officials.

Youths lobbed stones at Israeli police who responded with tear gas and gunfire at checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, where 20 Palestinians sustained gunshot wounds. He urged both sides to pull back from the brink of what he says could erupt into a full-blown Palestinian uprising.

“And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said: ‘If you expel them, they’ll all come here [to Palestine].’ ” According to Mr Netanyahu, Hitler then asked: “What should I do with them?” and the mufti replied: “Burn them”.

For his part, Netanyahu blamed the Palestinians for the recent surge in killings, singling out Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“We discussed concrete ways to de-escalate the situation on the ground and to guarantee the status quo in the holy sites”, she told reporters in Berlin.

Al-Quds, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida said three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli army and police in separate cases in Jerusalem, Sa’ir near Hebron.

“I believe people want this to de-escalate”.

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Eliasson said the crisis is a result of Israel’s “stifling and humiliating occupation” of Palestinian territories for nearly half a century and diminishing hopes for a viable Palestinian state.

A Palestinian protester throws back a tear gas canister that was fired by Israeli troops during clashes in the West Bank town of al-Ram north of Jerusalem Thursday Oct. 22 2015. Ten Israelis have been killed over the last month mainly in stabbing