Abbas calls for ‘international protection regime’ for Palestinians

Israeli forces have shot and killed another Palestinian in the city of al-Khalil (Hebron), the occupied West Bank.

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.

Since October 3, the violence has spiralled into a wave of near-daily stabbings and shootings.

“The current situation is simply not sustainable over time”.

The surge in violence has prompted an intense diplomatic drive to douse tensions that many fear herald a third Palestinian intifada. But Palestinians say it is the result of frustration stemming from almost 50 years of Israeli occupation.

“Every martyr will be in heaven and every wounded person will be rewarded by Allah’s will”, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in September, adding that Palestinians’ “hands are with who are protecting Al-Aqsa mosque”.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Eviatar Manor, refused to attend the Abbas speech, but summoned dozens of diplomats afterward to decry recent “inflammatory” comments on Palestinian TV and elsewhere by Abbas, The Associated Press reported.

“Israel has to be assured its security for good, and not remain the object of any threat to it or its people”, he said ending his address.

The latest wave of tensions was triggered by Israel’s imposition in August of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem). Palestinians have long feared Israelis are planning to change the rules governing the site that is sacred to both Muslims and Jews, and lies in a majority Palestinian area annexed by Israel in 1967.

He reacted swiftly, with his office issuing a statement repeating his promise to maintain the status quo that allows Muslims to pray at the site and Jews to visit but not pray.

According to the Economist, the demolition of private homes was revived this moth due to the increase in attacks to Israelis.

They are among 61 killed since October 1.

But the proposal, brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry during talks held in Jordan yesterday, has angered the Palestinian side, which was not involved in the negotiations. The military initially said the attackers were disguised as ultra-Orthodox Jews but later retracted the detail after an investigation, saying it was incorrect.

The spokesperson said the Palestinian suspect approached soldiers at a checkpoint in Hebron’s neighborhood of Tel Rumeida.

In other incidents, Palestinians involved in demonstrations in the West Bank and along the Gaza fence have been reportedly shot by security forces using live ammunition – raising strong concerns again about excessive use of force.

After an intense diplomatic drive to defuse the tensions, Israel and Jordan – the custodian of the holy site – agreed Saturday to allow surveillance cameras at the compound, but this has run into trouble as the two lock horns over the installation.

Israel must bear all its responsibilities as an occupying power, the status quo cannot continue, he said.

A month ago, photographs obtained by Israeli police revealed that Palestinians were stockpiling rocks on the Temple Mount in advance of Jewish visits to the site during Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles.