Rioters set fire on Jewish holy site in Nablus

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the arson as “irresponsible”, ordered an investigation into who was behind it and said repairs would begin immediately, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. The shrine is revered by Muslims as the spot where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and by Jews as the home of their biblical Temples.

Numerous Palestinians involved in stabbing attacks in the past month came from east Jerusalem, the sector of the city captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians as a future capital.

Even in these situations, shooting is only permitted against the attacker, not the crowd of demonstrators in general, and forces can only shoot to injure rather than kill.

Those times have since been buried by the Second Intifada, in which organized deadly attacks targeted Israelis, and three wars in Gaza that killed thousands of Palestinians. Flames blackened exterior walls of the small stone structure, a scene of clashes in the past. Jordanian civil servants and police oversee the site and allow Jews to visit, but not to pray there.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have confirmed that Palestinian security forces are making a massive effort to calm tensions in the West Bank and have, so far, succeeded in limiting confrontations in the territory.

“We continue to support Israel’s right to defend its citizens”, Power said, adding that Washington was concerned about increased settler violence against Palestinians.

“The burning and desecration of Joseph’s Tomb…is a blatant violation and contradiction of the basic value of freedom of worship”, Lt Col Peter Lerner said.

Abbas has tried to lower the temperature, telling his security commanders that armed attacks on Israelis counter Palestinian interests.

Joseph’s Tomb has been venerated for centuries by Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Mansour said the Arab countries were weighing a possible draft resolution that demands a withdrawal of Israeli security forces from flashpoint areas and calls for the deployment of the protection force at Al-Aqsa. Wearing a T-shirt with the word “press” in large letters on the front and back, the man mingled with journalists standing near the soldiers, who were firing tear gas at stone-throwers.

Troops rushed to the scene where one of the soldiers had been stabbed, and administered aid to the wounded soldier who was eventually taken away by ambulance. The attacker lay on the ground, clutching a knife in his right hand.

Judging by reports of the clashes in which the teenage demonstrators were killed, these conditions were probably not met. After the killing of 13-year-old Abdul Rahman Shadi near Bethlehem, an Israeli military official commented that the live rounds were fired at a group of 15 protesters throwing rocks, not at an individual posing a life-threatening danger. Kerry spoke to mark the opening of the new building for IU’s School of Global and worldwide Studies.

The Foreign Press Association has complained of harassment by both Israeli and Palestinian forces, including cases in which reporters were beaten and equipment smashed.