Kerry to meet Netanyahu, Abbas on Palestinian-Israeli unrest this week

The secretary-general “welcomes (Palestinian) President Mahmoud Abbas’ immediate condemnation of the attack and his announcement that a committee has been established to conduct a full investigation of this crime”, said a statement issued here by Ban’s spokesman.

Israel also killed two Palestinians in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, where about 500 Jewish settlers live in a heavily guarded enclave in the city centre surrounded by about 200,000 Palestinians. In a third attack in Hebron, the assailant was shot after injuring a soldier and taken away by ambulance, according to an army spokeswoman, who said his condition was not known.

In East Jerusalem, police reported that a Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces when he tried to stab a soldier at a checkpoint.

Also in Hebron, Israeli police say a Palestinian man brandished a knife and was shot dead by an Israeli civilian. In east Jerusalem, a Palestinian tried to stab a soldier at a checkpoint in East Talpiot but was shot dead by other soldiers.

The Palestinian dead include knife-wielding assailants and protesters shot by Israeli forces during rock-throwing confrontations.

JERUSALEM (AP) – The Israeli military removed dozens of Jewish worshippers Sunday who clashed with Palestinians after illegally entering a biblical shrine in the West Bank that was recently torched by Palestinians.

The ambassador noted for example that “some people believe that the reason why these attacks are happening is because of Israel’s control of the territories it captured in the Six Day War or because the peace process with the Palestinians is stalled”.

The Israeli military said Palestinian forces had extinguished the blaze.

Video showed what looked like an extensive blaze, and the Israeli army called it “a despicable act” of desecration.

In that time, 39 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, including 18 labelled by Israel as attackers, and the rest in clashes with Israeli troops. It has deployed soldiers in Israeli cities and erected concrete barriers outside a few Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, where most of the attackers came from.

He said tensions at the holy sites in Jerusalem, exacerbated by “reckless statements” from Palestinian and Israeli extremist elements, were the main instigator of the violence.

The attack occurred in Beit Hadassah early on Saturday.

Just as the last intifada had no leadership, but was co-opted by the catastrophist Yasser Arafat, so this latest rage against the machine of the occupation, which to many includes the current Palestinian leadership, appears to have no strategist or even tactician.

“It’s a painful moment here in Israel, it’s a moment when I am certainly here in solidarity with the people of Israel”, de Blasio said during a visit with students from a mixed Israeli-Palestinian school.

But the unrest escalated amid rumours suggesting that Israel was planning changes to Jerusalem’s al- Aqsa holy compound – a site of great importance to both Muslims and Jews.

Homes of those accused of carrying out terror attacks will be demolished within days of any attack and their families, if residents of East Jerusalem and not Israeli citizens, will have their permanent residency status revoked, he said.

However, Palestinians believe the site belongs to a holy man from the city of Nablus.