AFP, United Nations :
Israel on Friday rejected Palestinian calls for a protection force to be deployed in east Jerusalem to quell violence around the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque.
“Let me be crystal clear — Israel will not agree to any international presence on the Temple Mount. Such a presence would be a change in the status quo,” Israeli Deputy Ambassador David Roet told the UN Security Council.
The 15-member council met in an emergency session to discuss weeks of escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem and the territories. On Friday, Palestinians torched a Jewish holy site in the West Bank as they staged a “Friday of revolution” against Israel and a man posing as a news photographer stabbed an Israeli soldier before he was shot dead.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the “reprehensible” attack at Joseph’s Tomb in the city of Nablus and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Two weeks of violence have left 39 Palestinians dead and hundreds more wounded in clashes with Israeli forces. Seven Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded. The surge in violence has raised fears that a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising, might erupt.
Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour urged the council to “urgently intervene to end this aggression against our defenseless Palestinian people” and called for “international protection”.
Mansour said Israeli security forces must withdraw from “contact points” with the Palestinians, in particular in east Jerusalem.
There have been repeated clashes at east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam and the most sacred for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
Meanwhile, three Palestinians were shot dead on Saturday in what Israel said were thwarted knife attacks, but a Palestinian witness of one incident said it was a result of Jewish settler violence, as tensions ran high after more than two weeks of unrest.
At least 40 Palestinians and seven Israelis have died in the violence, which was in part triggered by Palestinians’ anger over what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Israeli border police had stopped to question a 16-year-old Palestinian walking in “a suspicious manner” through a neighborhood around East Jerusalem, a police spokesman said.
Israel on Friday rejected Palestinian calls for a protection force to be deployed in east Jerusalem to quell violence around the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque.
“Let me be crystal clear — Israel will not agree to any international presence on the Temple Mount. Such a presence would be a change in the status quo,” Israeli Deputy Ambassador David Roet told the UN Security Council.
The 15-member council met in an emergency session to discuss weeks of escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem and the territories. On Friday, Palestinians torched a Jewish holy site in the West Bank as they staged a “Friday of revolution” against Israel and a man posing as a news photographer stabbed an Israeli soldier before he was shot dead.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the “reprehensible” attack at Joseph’s Tomb in the city of Nablus and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Two weeks of violence have left 39 Palestinians dead and hundreds more wounded in clashes with Israeli forces. Seven Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded. The surge in violence has raised fears that a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising, might erupt.
Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour urged the council to “urgently intervene to end this aggression against our defenseless Palestinian people” and called for “international protection”.
Mansour said Israeli security forces must withdraw from “contact points” with the Palestinians, in particular in east Jerusalem.
There have been repeated clashes at east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam and the most sacred for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
Meanwhile, three Palestinians were shot dead on Saturday in what Israel said were thwarted knife attacks, but a Palestinian witness of one incident said it was a result of Jewish settler violence, as tensions ran high after more than two weeks of unrest.
At least 40 Palestinians and seven Israelis have died in the violence, which was in part triggered by Palestinians’ anger over what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Israeli border police had stopped to question a 16-year-old Palestinian walking in “a suspicious manner” through a neighborhood around East Jerusalem, a police spokesman said.
