Palestinian Plight: Updates & Discussions

[Redheart]

Abbas quits PLO leadership ahead of internal election: official - Yahoo News

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas resigned Saturday as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Executive Committee in a bid to force new elections for the top body, an official said.

Wassel Abu Yussef said that more than half of the 18-member committee had also stepped down.

"The resignation of the president of the executive committee Mahmud Abbas and more than half of its members has created a legal vacuum, and therefore the Palestine National Council has been asked to meet in one month to elect a new executive committee," Yussef told AFP.

Yussef added, however, that the resignations will take effect only when the PNC meets.

The PNC, or Palestinian parliament, has 740 members who live in the Palestinian territories and in the diaspora. It has not met in nearly 20 years.

The executive committee is the PLO's highest decision-making body and acts on behalf of Palestinians in the occupied territories and the diaspora, namely in the peace process with Israel.

In 1993, Abbas, then executive committee secretary general, signed the Oslo autonomy accords on behalf of the Palestinians.

Yussef said that before the resignations were announced, the executive committee elected chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat as its secretary general.

That move came after Abbas suspended another key member, Yasser Abed Rabbo, as secretary general.

It was not immediately clear why Abed Rabbo, a veteran PLO figure, had been sidelined.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Israel approves Hebrew names for Arab streets in Jerusalem

Israeli policemen prevent Palestinian women from entering the compound which houses al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City September 22, 2015. (Reuters)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News
Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Over 30 streets in an Arab area of East Jerusalem have been new names based of the Torah, the Jewish scriptures, the Jewish Press reported, as tensions continued to simmer ahead of this week’s major Jewish and Muslim holidays.

The move, approved by the city council on Sunday, comes as Jerusalem – revered as a holy city by Jews, Muslims and Christians – comes as the city suffers from some of the worst outbreaks of violence in recent years.

Arab members of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, are outraged by the decision, according to Israeli web portal Walla.

Ahmad Tibi, an Arab Knesset member, said that the decision to rename the streets was “pyromaniac,” and would “add more fuel to the fire of tension in Jerusalem.

News of the new naming was also greeted with hostility by Arab residents of the neighborhood.

“This is all part of one plan — first, to Judaize al-Aqsa, second, the Arab villages, third, the history and names,” a man living in the area told Walla news.

However, the Jerusalem municipality defended the decision, saying in a statement quoted by the Times of Israel that many of the new names in East Jerusalem were “selected by the Arabs themselves.”

“For sites that have a weighty Jewish historical legacy, the street names reflect this legacy,” the statement added.

As clashes over the al-Aqsa mosque compound continue in East Jerusalem, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned Tuesday of the “risk of an intifada (Palestinian uprising),” if violence continues.

Tensions boiled over last week on the eve of the Jewish new year holiday of Rosh Hashanah when Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the al-Aqsa Mosque and, in clashes with police that would continue for days, threw rocks and firecrackers at officers.

An Israeli man was also killed in Jerusalem when Palestinians pelted his car with rocks.

Several rockets from the Gaza Strip have also been fired recently, and Israel has deployed its Iron Dome rocket defense battery in towns near the Palestinian territory.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Israeli forces shot a female Palestinian attacker after she attempted to stab a soldier at a West Bank checkpoint, the Associated Press reported. The woman later died of her injuries, according to her father.


(With AP)

Last Update: Wednesday, 23 September 2015 KSA 23:52 - GMT 20:52
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/23/Israel-approves-Hebrew-names-for-Arab-streets-in-Jerusalem.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Abbas warns of risk of new Palestinian intifada

A Palestinian protester holds a stone during clashes with Israeli security forces following an anti-Israeli protest after the weekly Friday prayers on Sept. 18 Hebron. (AFP)

By AFP | Paris/Hebron
Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned Tuesday of the “risk of an intifada” if clashes over the Al-Aqsa mosque compound continue, after a meeting with French leader Francois Hollande in Paris.

“What is happening is very dangerous,” Abbas said, calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop” the chaos at the flashpoint holy site.

Abbas warned against “an intifada (uprising) which we don’t want.”

Tensions are high after days of clashes at the Al-Aqsa mosque site during the Jewish New Year last week.

The mosque, located at the site of what Jews venerate as the sacred Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, is in east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

Al-Aqsa is also the third holiest site in Islam and is believed to be where the Prophet Mohammed made his night journey to heaven.

Muslims have been alarmed by an increase in visits by Jews to the site and fear rules governing the compound will be changed. Jews are allowed to visit but not to pray, to avoid provoking tensions.

Netanyahu has said repeatedly he is committed to the status quo at the site.

Israeli authorities fear further trouble ahead when the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha coincides on Wednesday with the solemn Jewish fast of Yom Kippur.

Hollande called for “peace, calm and the respect of principles.”

“I expressed our attachment to the status quo over the mosque compound,” he said after the talks with Abbas.

Abbas’ visit to France comes shortly before the United Nations General Assembly in New York where he will oversee the raising of the Palestinian flag at the United Nations.

On the same day as the flag-raising, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will host a meeting of the Middle East Quartet seeking a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The peace process slipped into a deep coma after a failed US diplomatic effort in April last year.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, along with the secretary general of the Arab League, will attend in a bid to broaden the search for a way back to the negotiating table.

Palestinian killed
A 21-year-old Palestinian died during an Israeli army operation in the southern West Bank before dawn on Tuesday in circumstances that were unclear.

Palestinian security officials named him as Dia al-Talahmeh and said he was shot dead by Israeli troops.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said he had been killed by a makeshift bomb he had been preparing to throw at the patrol but did not say whether or not the troops had opened fire.

The spokeswoman said the patrol had been deployed to clear stones blocking a road outside the flashpoint city of Hebron.

“The soldiers heard an explosion and during a search of the sector they found the body of a Palestinian killed by the explosive device he intended to throw at one of our vehicles,” she said.

Separately on Tuesday morning, Israeli troops shot and wounded a Palestinian woman at a checkpoint near the centre of Hebron, witnesses said. The Israeli military said she had attempted to stab a soldier.

The woman was identified as 18-year-old university student Hadeel al-Hashlamon.

She was taken to an Israeli hospital in critical condition and her father, Salah al-Hashlamon, said she later died of her injuries.

"An attack was thwarted when a Palestinian attempted to stab an (Israeli) soldier at a military position in Hebron," an army statement said.

"(Israeli) forces responded, fired towards the perpetrator and identified a hit."

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, ahead of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday which begins at sundown on Tuesday.

The Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday begins on Wednesday evening and continues until Sunday.

Israel has deployed thousands of extra police in east Jerusalem and closed it off from the rest of the West Bank.

Last Update: Tuesday, 22 September 2015 KSA 18:10 - GMT 15:10
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/22/Palestinian-dies-in-Israeli-army-operation-in-West-Bank-.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Clashes erupt at Al-Aqsa mosque compound

Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian protester during clashes in Shuafat refugee camp near Jerusalem. (File photo: Reuters)

By AFP | Occupied Jerusalem
Sunday, 27 September 2015

Clashes broke out between masked Palestinians and Israeli security forces at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday, the last day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, police said.

A police statement said young Palestinians "threw stones and fireworks at police and border police forces," who responded with "riot dispersal means".

Calm returned to the compound later in the morning and most police had withdrawn but Israeli Arab activists remained inside, AFP correspondents reported.

Muslims have been alarmed by an increase in visits by Jews and fear rules governing the compound will be changed.

Al-Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam, is also venerated by Jews as the Temple Mount and is considered the most sacred place in Judaism.

Jews are allowed to visit but not to pray to avoid provoking tensions.

Visits by Jews were stopped on Sunday and age restrictions on Muslim men entering the compound lifted.

But recent weeks have seen a series of Jewish holidays during which there has an been an uptick in visits by Jews that have sparked repeated clashes.

The northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel and the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee (HAMC), which represents Arab communities in Israel, had urged Muslims to go to the compound to defend it.

AFP correspondents saw around 150 people at the compound sporting green Islamic Movement caps.

"We're going to stay here for the whole day, we want to prevent the Jews from attacking Al-Aqsa," an Arab Israeli woman who gave her name as Hala told AFP.

Several Arab members of the Israeli parliament were also present at the compound.

Islamic Movement official Sheikh Qairi Eskender said: "We're afraid they want to divide the Aqsa compound, because the Jewish extremists want to take control of Al-Aqsa.

"Our goal today is to prevent Al-Aqsa from being tarnished by their visits," Eskender told AFP.

"In the coming days, we'll have people staying here."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that there will be no change to the rules governing the compound despite the views of some hardliners within his governing coalition.

Last Update: Sunday, 27 September 2015 KSA 11:16 - GMT 08:16
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/27/Clashes-erupt-at-Al-Aqsa-mosque-compound.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Fresh clashes break out at Aqsa compound

Israeli security forces stand guard at one of the main entrances of the Al Aqsa mosque as Palestinians throws firebombs from inside the mosque. (AFP)


By Al Arabiya News, AFP
Monday, 28 September 2015

New clashes broke out on Monday morning between Israeli border police and Palestinians at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, an Agence France-Presse journalist reported, with further trouble feared in the week ahead.

Police were deployed to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound after clashes a day earlier. Al-Aqsa, is the third holiest site in Islam.

The compound has been the site of consistent clashes between border police and Palestinians since they first clashed earlier this month.

Tensions rose during the Jewish holiday of Yon Kipur and the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha.

Under the current status quo, Jews are permitted to visit the site but not to pray there for fear it would cause friction with Muslim worshippers.

Visits by Jews were stopped on Sunday and age restrictions on Muslim men entering the compound lifted for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, but a ban on under-50s was re-imposed as the Jewish festival of Sukkot started.

Muslims have been alarmed by an increase in visits by Jews and fear rules governing the compound will be changed.

Meanwhile, Arab leadership have vowed to “confront Israeli aggression” on Aqsa with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir confirming on September 15 that movement will be made “at all levels to confront any act of aggression carried out by the Israeli occupation or the Israeli settlers against Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

[With AFP]

Last Update: Monday, 28 September 2015 KSA 12:42 - GMT 09:42
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/28/New-clashes-at-Aqsa-mosque-compound.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

World Bank: Israel-Palestine conflict ‘high risk’

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/29/World-Bank-warns-of-high-risk-of-Israel-Palestine-conflict.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

The Palestinian people have the right to a state, says Labour Hilary Benn

Hilary Benn said he stood by and was proud of Labour’s vote in Parliament last year to recognise the country

• Jon stone Brighton
• Tuesday 29 September 2015 11:44 BST

The Palestinian people have a right to a state of Palestine that cannot be taken away by anyone else, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary has said.

Hilary Benn said he stood by and was proud of Labour’s vote in Parliament last year to recognise the country.

“I was proud as a Labour member of parliament last year to go through that division lobby in the vote on Palestinian recognition in the House of Commons and I want to say that I stand by the vote that I cast on that day,” he told a fringe event at Labour conference.

“I think it was the right thing to do because recognition for a Palestinian state, even though it does not yet exist, is not something to be granted to the Palestinian people by somebody else, it is a right to be exercised.”

In 2014 Labour supported a successful parliamentary motion, also backed by MPs of other parties, for Britain to recognise Palestine. The motion was largely symbolic and does not change Government policy.

Former Labour leadership candidate Liz Kendall said during the party’s leadership election she believes the vote was a mistake.

Voting by 274 to 12 MPs across all parties urged the Government to “recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel” as part of a “contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution”.

As of last year 135 of the 193 member states of the United Nations recognised a Palestinian state. Israel does not recognise its neighbour and currently occupies the territory in contravention of international law.

Former Labour leadership candidate Liz Kendall said during the party’s leadership election she believes the vote was a mistake.

Critics of recognition argue it would make a two-state solution to the conflict more difficult.

Mr Benn also told the meeting, which was jointly convened by the New Statesman magazine and Palestine Solidarity Campaign, that there were unique aspects to the Middle East conflict.

“There are many outstanding conflicts in the world but it is one with a particular salience because of the length of the time it is going on and the deep sense of injustice that is felt,” he said.

The shadow foreign secretary however warned that both sides would have to make concessions in pursuit of a peace process.

“In the end the lesson from peace processes around the world is simply this: one of two outcomes. Either one side completely defeats the other or an agreement is eventually reached and that requires compromise and political leadership,” he said.

“When one side feels particularly oppressed by the other, and that is certainly the case in the Middle East, the hardest thing to do is say to the people you represent is say we need to do these things in the interest of the settlement.”

Newly elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has long campaigned in support of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian people have the right to a state, says Labour's Hilary Benn | UK Politics | News | The Independent

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Palestinians, Israeli forces clash amid holy site tensions

An Israeli policeman prevents a Palestinian man from entering in Occupied Jerusalem's Old City. (Reuters)


By The Associated Press | Ramallah
Wednesday, 30 September 2015

Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Israeli troops across the West Bank on Tuesday as tensions remained high following days of violence at Occupied Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, was largely quiet on Tuesday. About 600 tourists and 100 Israelis visited the site without serious incident.

Israel has barred Muslim men under the age of 50 from entering the compound in recent days in a move it says is aimed at easing tensions.

The site has experienced repeated clashes over the past two weeks as Palestinian protesters barricaded themselves inside the Aqsa Mosque.

IN OPINION: On Jerusalem, Jordan cannot remain idle

The compound located in the Old City is a frequent flashpoint and its fate is a core issue at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war, as their capital.

The compound is sacred to Muslims as it is the place where they believe Islam’s Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

Under an internationally agreed status-quo Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there.

Interactive: History of unrest at Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Palestinians view such visits as provocations as rumors spread that Jews are planning on taking over the site, fueling the recent clashes. Israel says there are no plans to change the arrangements. But calls by a group of religious Jews to visit the site, coupled with periodic Israeli restrictions on Muslim visits, have inflamed tensions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement meanwhile staged a series of protests in the West Bank on Tuesday.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, about 300 protesters affiliated with Fatah marched toward the nearby Israeli settlement of Bet El. Israeli forces used tear gas, stun grenades and fired rubber and low-caliber bullets at the legs of “main instigators,” it said.

At least six Palestinian suffered leg injuries.

Last Update: Wednesday, 30 September 2015 KSA 10:24 - GMT 07:24
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/30/Yemen-accuses-Iran-of-pursuing-its-destruction.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Palestinian teen killed by Israeli army fire near Bethlehem

A Palestinian throws stones at Israeli army soldiers during clashes in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron Oct. 4, 2015. (Reuters)

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Monday, 5 October 2015

A Palestinian teen has been killed by Israeli army fire near Bethlehem on Monday as clashes spiked in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported.

Abdel Rahman Abdullah, 13, was shot at in the chest during clashes at a refugee camp near Bethlehem, emergency services and police sources told Agence France-Presse.

He is the second Palestinian killed by Israeli soldiers over the past 24 hours.

On Sunday night, an 18-year-old Palestinian was killed during clashes in Tulkarem in the West Bank.

Clashes have spread after two recent attacks killed four Israelis and wounded a two-year-old child.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged "a fight to the death against Palestinian terror" and announced new security measures.

(with AFP)

Last Update: Monday, 5 October 2015 KSA 17:51 - GMT 14:51
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/10/05/Palestinian-teen-killed-by-Israeli-army-fire-near-Bethlehem-.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Live bullets, settler attacks wound 77 Palestinians

A member of the Zaka Rescue and Recovery team holds a bloodstained paper towel as he cleans the scene where a Palestinian was shot dead after he stabbed and killed two people in Jerusalem's Old City. (Reuters)

By AFP | Occupied Jerusalem
Sunday, 4 October 2015

Clashes with Israeli security forces and Jewish settlers have left 77 Palestinians wounded from both live rounds and rubber bullets over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Red Crescent said Sunday.

The toll included 18 wounded from live rounds and 59 from rubber bullets, Red Crescent spokeswoman Errab Foqaha said.

Another 139 have been treated for tear gas inhalation and six for injuries sustained in beatings by soldiers or settlers, she said.

A series of clashes have broken out in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank with tensions high following two Palestinian attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child.

Israeli police announced Sunday that Palestinians will be banned from accessing Jerusalem’s Old City for two days after the twin attacks on Israelis which also left the perpetrators dead.

The move will affect the vast majority of Palestinians in annexed east Jerusalem who do not live inside the Old City, meaning that only Israelis, tourists, residents of the area, business owners and schoolchildren will be able to enter, they said.

The ban came after a Palestinian man who wounded an Israeli in a knife attack on Saturday evening was killed by police, just hours after another Palestinian killed two Israeli men, police said.

Netanyahu calls for punitive home demolitions
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday Israel was “waging a fight to the death against Palestinian terror,” and ordered tough new measures after the recent events.

“These steps include, among others, speeded up demolition of terrorists’ homes,” he said in a video address distributed by his office.

Netanyahu had convened his ministers of defense and internal security and top security officials immediately after landing back in Israel Sunday from delivering a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

He said he instructed them on steps “to prevent terror and deter and punish the attackers.”.

They would also include broader use of detention without trial for suspects, further reinforcement of security forces in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and restraining orders keeping unspecified “inciters” away from the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which he called by its Jewish name of Temple Mount.

The latest death occurred when the Palestinian man stabbed a passerby on the street in west Jerusalem before being shot dead by police.


A member of the Zaka Rescue and Recovery team cleans blood stains at the scene where a Palestinian was shot dead after he stabbed and killed two people in Jerusalem's Old City October 3, 2015. (Reuters)


The United States condemned the attack which killed the two people and injured two others in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Washington “strongly condemns all acts of violence, including the tragic stabbing in the Old City of Jerusalem today,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

“We are very concerned about mounting tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem, including the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount, and call on all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm and avoid escalating the situation,” he added.


Israeli members of the Zaka Rescue and Recovery team push a baby carriage near the scene where a Palestinian was shot dead after he stabbed and killed two people in Jerusalem's Old City October 3, 2015. (Reuterts)

A Palestinian said to be an Islamist killed two Israeli men and injured a woman and a toddler in a knife and gun attack in Jerusalem Saturday, in a fresh escalation of violence.

The attack in the Old City came with Israeli security forces on alert after recent clashes at the city’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the murder in the West Bank of a Jewish settler couple in front of their young children.


Last Update: Sunday, 4 October 2015 KSA 22:15 - GMT 19:15
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/10/04/Palestinian-knife-attacker-in-Jerusalem-killed-.html

 

[Scorpion]

Its disgusting that then UN is worried about gay marriage...etc but don't give a shit to the suffering of the Palestinians. Where are the missiles Hamas claims to have? why don't they launch them against Israel.

 

[Falcon29]

Its disgusting that then UN is worried about gay marriage...etc but don't give a shit to the suffering of the Palestinians. Where are the missiles Hamas claims to have? why don't they launch them against Israel.

Because Egypt closed tunnels they can't get supplies to make them anymore lol

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Jewish man stabs four Arabs in southern Israel

Masked Palestinian girl, draped in a Palestinian flag, walks during clashes with Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Bet El. (File photo: Reuters)

By Salma El Shahed | Al Arabiya News
Friday, 9 October 2015

A Jewish man stabbed and wounded four Arabs in southern Israel in what seemed to be a reprisal attack against a string of Palestinian stabbings in the occupied West Bank, Reuters news agency reported.

The past 10 days saw four Israelis shot or stabbed to death and three Palestinians killed while scores were wounded in clashes with Israeli forces.

At least a dozen Israelis have been wounded by Palestinians wielding knives or screwdrivers in stabbings in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.

Additionally, Palestinian officials have cited a surge in attacks by Israeli settler following last week’s initial wave of unrest.

‘A new intifada’
On Friday, Hamas’s chief in Gaza called the violence an “intifada” and urged further unrest.

“We are calling for the strengthening and increasing of the intifada... It is the only path that will lead to liberation,” Ismail Haniyeh said during a sermon for weekly Muslim prayers at a mosque in Gaza City.

“Gaza will fulfil its role in the Jerusalem intifada and it is more than ready for confrontation.”

However, analysts say that it is too soon to classify the unrest as a third Intifada.

“It is still too early to tell whether violence will be sustained enough and on a scale that could be called another Palestinian intifada, or literally, an attempt to ‘shake off’ Israeli control,” Olivia Sohns, a postdoctoral fellow at the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin, told Al Arabiya News.

“There, are, however, clear signs that the situation could deteriorate further unless Palestinian and Israeli leaders can negotiate with one another and seek a better future for their peoples,” she added.

Hugh Lovatt, who heads the Palestine/Israel Project at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said comparing the current unrest to past intifadas is unhelpful as each one was different.

“The first one was more of a bottom-up intifada, it started with Palestinian civil society, non-violent resistance, and the second one was more top down with ownership coming rom the political arm of Palestinian groups,” he told Al Arabiya News.

Since no political group or members of civil society have adopted the recent attacks as an intifada, it is unlikely that the current unrest will develop into something more substantial.

“At the moment, the violence we have seen over the last months and years remains an emotional reaction to what they [Palestinians] perceive as Israeli provocation…at the moment it hasn’t translated into anything more substantive than that because of the lack of ownership whether from civil society or from political groups,” he explained.

“There are great chances that current instability can escalate and can continue especially in the West Bank, but for it to be anything more meaningful, will require more organization behind it, which we have not seen so far.”

Tensions surrounding Al-Aqsa mosque
One of the catalysts to the current unrest is increased visits by Jewish groups to the Noble Sanctuary, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The current status quo bars Jews from praying at the Noble Sanctuary, a status quo many Palestinians feel is changing.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied wanting to change conditions, but his assurances have done little to quell Palestinian anger.

Both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have called for calm and Palestinian police are continuing to coordinate with Israeli security forces to try to restore order, but there are few signs of the tension and violence dying down.

Palestinian protests were planned in Jerusalem and West Bank cities after Muslim prayers on Friday, and Israel has deployed thousands more police and soldiers. Muslim access to al-Aqsa has been restricted to men over 45 and women.

In the latest attack, a Jewish man in his 20s stabbed four Arab men in the southern Israeli city of Dimona, police said, adding that the motive was “nationalistic.”

The mayor of Dimona said the assailant was a resident of the city who was known to police. During questioning, police said the attacker described all Arabs as “terrorists”.

Hours later, a 14-year-old Jewish boy was stabbed and wounded by a Palestinian in the Old City of Jerusalem, a woman believed to be Palestinian tried to stab a guard at a bus station in north Israel, and a Palestinian stabbed a policeman near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, Israeli police said.

The policeman’s attacker was shot dead, police said.

On Thursday, seven Israelis were stabbed in four separate incidents across the country, including the commercial capital

No peace, no talks
Netanyahu has accused Abbas, his Fatah party and the Islamist group Hamas of inciting the violence in East Jerusalem in recent weeks. He reiterated that message at a news conference on Thursday, adding that there was no “quick fix.”

“We are in the midst of a wave of terrorism with knives, firebombs, rocks and even live fire,” he said.

“While these acts are mostly unorganized, they are all the result of wild and mendacious incitement by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, several countries in the region and... the Islamic Movement in Israel.”

Abbas has praised Palestinians for defending al-Aqsa, a rallying point for Muslims throughout the region, but also urged people to engage in “peaceful popular resistance.”

Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians holding a rally near Gaza’s border fence with Israel on Friday, wounding 12 people, medics in Gaza said.

[With Reuters]

Last Update: Friday, 9 October 2015 KSA 16:51 - GMT 13:51
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/10/09/Jew-stabs-four-Arabs-stabbed-in-southern-Israel.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Jordan king speaks on al-Aqsa mosque crisis

Jordan's King Abdullah II stressed the need for coordinated efforts against radicalism and to solve the issue of Syrian refugees in his country. (Photo courtesy of Royal Hashemite Court / Instagram)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News
Thursday, 8 October 2015

Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Wednesday said that Jordan has legal and diplomatic options at its disposal regarding Israel’s recent moves on the al-Aqsa mosque and surrounding compound in Jerusalem, the local daily Jordan Times reported.

“We are performing our duties towards Jerusalem in all possible ways and we will not be dissuaded from doing so by regional problems and crises,” said the king to an audience of senior officials and delegates from a Jordan Islamic body.

The al-Aqsa compound is the third-holiest site in Islam and the most sacred for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. Over the last few weeks, the site has seen repeated clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian youths.

Muslims fear Israel will seek to change rules governing the site, which allow Jews to visit but not pray to avoid provoking tensions. Netanyahu has said repeatedly he is committed to the status quo.

The monarch “highlighted several challenges and methods to deal with extremists, terrorism and radicals,” according to the daily. He also stressed the need for coordinated efforts against radicalism and to solve the issue of Syrian refugees who have sought refuge in Jordan.

According to the U.N., over 620,000 refugees who have fled the four-year-long conflict in Syria live in Jordan, making up around 10 percent of the population.

Meanwhile, Arab Israeli lawmakers vowed to defy Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to bar parliament members from entering a sensitive Jerusalem holy site, pledging to visit it on Friday.

Netanyahu has issued the order against lawmakers and ministers in a bid to ease tensions after weeks of unrest. Arab lawmakers’ planned visit on Friday, when many Muslims attend weekly prayers there, will test enforcement of the ban.

“Neither Netanyahu nor the right will be able to stop us from entering our Al-Aqsa mosque,” Israeli Arab MP Ahmed Tibi said on Thursday, calling the ban “senseless and illegal.”


Last Update: Thursday, 8 October 2015 KSA 15:48 - GMT 12:48
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/10/08/Jordan-king-speaks-on-al-Aqsa-mosque-crisis.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Three new stabbing attacks hit Israel, West Bank

Israeli security forces and forensic police inspect the site of a stabbing attack carried out by an Arab against an Israeli man in the city of Jerusalem on October 8, 2015. (AFP)

By AFP | Occupied Jerusalem
Thursday, 8 October 2015

Three new stabbings wounded Israelis on Thursday and one of the assailants was shot dead as a spate of such attacks spread fear and defied attempts by authorities to contain Palestinian unrest.

There have been at least eight stabbing attacks since Saturday, when a Palestinian killed two Israelis in Jerusalem’s Old City, helping to prompt a security crackdown.

Riots have also spread in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The first attack on Thursday saw a Palestinian stab a 25-year-old Jewish man in Jerusalem, leaving him in serious condition. The attacker was arrested.

Later in the day, an Israeli soldier and three passers-by were stabbed in Tel Aviv and the attacker was killed.

The suspect stabbed the victims, who were lightly wounded, with a screwdriver before another soldier in the area shot him dead, police said.

They did not provide further details on the Tel Aviv attacker apart from identifying him as a “terrorist”.

In the third attack, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli near the Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, the military said. The victim was severely wounded and the attacker fled.

The stabbings have deeply unnerved Israelis and authorities have struggled to prevent them. The suspects are often young Palestinians believed to be acting on their own.

The attacks and rioting have sparked fears of a broader uprising and even a third intifada.

Last Update: Thursday, 8 October 2015 KSA 17:08 - GMT 14:08
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/10/08/Arab-seriously-wounds-Israeli-in-New-Jerusalem-stabbing-.html