PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ angry statements continue. Illustrative. Photo Courtesy of UN Photo/Marco Castro
Israel has warned that Palestinian incitement is brewing violence, and one day after another terror attack, the Palestinian comments still haven’t changed. Following the attempted assassination of Jewish religious rights activist Yehuda Glick, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lamented the lack of condemnation of Palestinian incitement.
“A few days ago, I said that we were facing a wave of incitement by radical Islamic elements and by Palestinian Authority Chairman [Mahmoud Abbas] who said that Jews must be prevented from going up to the Temple Mount by any means possible,” said Netanyahu in comments released by his office. “I still have not heard from the international community so much as one word of condemnation for these inflammatory remarks.”
It took less than a day for more Palestinian comments. The Palestinian WAFA news agency paraphrased Palestinian Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh as saying on Thursday that Israel’s decision to close the Temple Mount and the mosques located there to all visitors for security reasons was “tantamount to a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and their sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic nations.”
Israeli Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on his Twitter feed that the Temple Mount area had been closed off “to prevent disturbances.” He said Israel later decided to re-open the compound following “security assessments.”
The security concerns were borne out, as Thursday was certainly not free of disturbances in Jerusalem. Rosenfeld said on Twitter that “police units dealt with a number of pinpointed stone throwing incidents in old city during the afternoon.”
Israeli spokesman Ofir Gendelman said on his Twitter feed, “The temporary closure of the Temple Mount is intended to reduce friction during this sensitive period & bring the situation back to normal.”
The Temple Mount decision came in the wake of the attempted assassination on Glick, who had advocated for increased religious rights of Jews on the Temple Mount, and ensuing shootout with the suspected gunman. The suspected terrorist was killed in the gunfight.
Rosenfeld said on Twitter that after police surrounded a house looking for the suspect, shots were fired and the police returned fire.
Netanyahu, in contrast to the Palestinian leadership, urged calm on Thursday. “I have ordered significant reinforcements so that we can maintain both security in Jerusalem and the status quo in the holy places. This struggle might be long, and here, like in other struggles, we must first of all, lower the flames. No side should take the law into its own hands.
“We must be level-headed and act with determination and responsibility, and so we shall.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, October 30, 2014)