After a sharp escalation in tensions between Israel and the Palestinians in recent days and in advance of a visit this week by an American delegation, Israeli and Palestinian leaders were urged on Tuesday by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to end the cycle of violence and restore calm to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Old City.
The State Department informed that Blinken stressed in separate calls with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid the importance of both sides exercising restraint and refraining from actions that escalate tensions in joint efforts to end the cycle of violence in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
Stressing that Israel will not tolerate calls in support of violence, the Israeli PM said in a tweet that he updated Blinken about Israel’s efforts to ensure freedom of worship in Jerusalem and emphasized the need for international support for returning calm to the city.
Abbas, on the other side, warned Blinken that Israeli forces and settlers’ brutal attacks on the Al Aqsa compound and Israeli incursions into Palestinian cities and villages will lead to dire and unbearable consequences.
After a series of deadly Arab street attacks throughout Israel over the past two weeks and the confrontations at the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, Israeli security forces have been on high alert since these events threaten to spark a slide back into a broader conflagration like last year’s Gaza war.
At least 152 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes with Israeli riot police on Friday inside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound with Lapid blaming the hundreds of Islamic extremists for rioting and spreading disinformation that inflame tensions.
The Iron Dome missile-defense system intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza toward Israel on Monday night and IDF clashed again with the Palestinians in the West Bank on Tuesday.
The situation was particularly volatile considering the religious sensitivities surrounding the overlap of Ramadan with Passover and the Arab world has been concerned by Israel’s potential breaking of the status quo by allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.
However, Israel insists that the status quo allows Jews to visit the Mount but not pray.
Last week’s violence has created a ripple effect in neighboring Jordan and in the West Bank and raised the tensions with Israel’s other regional allies including UAE, Turkey, Bahrain, and Morocco.
Blinken discussed on Monday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi the importance of Israelis and Palestinians ending the violence and refraining from escalatory actions.
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