Israeli forces shoot Palestinian after stabbing attempt

An overwhelming majority of Palestinians, at 88%, think the PA should bring Israel to the ICC to stand trial for building settlements on the “occupied territories”, an Israeli enterprise most Palestinians (65%) think has nullified prospects for a two-state solution. First he tried to convey his intentions to resign, then his associates leaked his supposed intention to annul the Oslo Accords. “It is the home of all Muslims and their presence in this place would intensify their connection to this place”. Clashes resulted in the Israeli police using tear gas and stun grenades. Security officials said travel between the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel would be limited until the end of Yom Kippur at midnight (21:00 GMT) on Wednesday. Israel said the group, known as the Murabitat, and its corresponding men’s faction have been yelling at Jewish visitors and throwing stones at them.

The residential Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in southern Jerusalem has been a particular focus of violence.

Hollande called for peace, calm and respect of principles, adding that he was intensifying his contacts with regional leaders “in view of the gravity of the situation”.

Tensions have been running high ahead of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday which begins at sundown on Tuesday.

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.

But the city has been particularly tense since last year’s Gaza War and the murder of a Palestinian youth in revenge for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli youths.

However, in recent months right-wing Jewish groups, who have previously called for the destruction of the Mosque and the construction of a Jewish temple on the site, have repeatedly raided the compound under heavy police escort, while severe restrictions are imposed on Palestinians’ entry.

East Jerusalem, lying over the 1967 line, is considered occupied territory by the United Nations. When my family and I approached the mosques, the waqf representatives were as invasive as the Israeli soldiers demanding our IDs outside the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount compound. The leaflets were illustrated with paintings of the Western Wall and Temple Mount.

Israel’s new Minister of Internal Security, Gilad Erdan, is repressing any Palestinian in Jerusalem who dares to challenge new Israeli rules regarding Muslim access to Al-Aqsa.

Over the years, this version of the status quo has been a source of tension and violence.

Understandably, the Jerusalem political discourse is conflated with discussion about religion, but it is far more encompassing than a conflict over access to holy sites. Doing so required reaching out to the most reactionary, religious elements of Israeli society, the religious- ultra-nationalists camps, who were on the margins of mainstream politics.

This is why the only permanent cure to Jerusalem’s sickness lies not just in ending the occupation (the foremost and most urgent step), but in ending the nationalist-religious mantras of ownership of the city in both Israeli and Palestinian social and political thought.

The conflicting claims to the holy site in Jerusalem’s Old City have frequently spilled over into violence. It has fast-tracked the Judaization of the city via policies that impact on the geographical and physical space and are created to circumvent the “demographic threat” posed by Palestinians. Much of it isn’t organized, and numerous rock-throwers are teens, even children.