LATEST: Israeli Forces Arrest 10 Palestinians in West Bank, Wound 2 Journalists With Rubber Bullets

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has requested a UN Security Council meeting over rising tension and clashes in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Abbas cited “settler attacks” on the Temple Mount. He called for a halt to additional Israeli settlement plans in the West Bank, less than 24 hours after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved 2,000 new settlement homes throughout the Palestinian area.

As clashes continued between Israeli security forces and protesters, senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub suggested that the settlement expansion is likely to cause an “explosion of violence” in the predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

Rajoub said, “Mr Netanyahu should not expect a white flag from the Palestinian people.”

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh supported Abbas’ request for a Security Council meeting.

Judeh said that settlement expansion, as a significant hurdle to peace talks, a breach of Israel’s commitments: “[This is a] huge slap in the face of efforts taken to restart Palestinian-Israeli negotiations aimed at the incarnation of a two-state solution based on well-known international references and the Arab Peace Initiative.”


Israeli Forces Arrest 10 Palestinians in West Bank, Wound 2 Journalists With Rubber Bullets

Israeli forces arrested another 10 Palestinians, including four suspected “militants”, on Monday night.

Two journalists, including one AP photographer, were wounded by rubber bullets fired by the police during the dispersal of protests.

Israeli authorities said at least 9 Molotov cocktails were thrown by masked Palestinians at locally-deployed troops in East Jerusalem’s predominantly-Arab Silwan neighborhood. In the Sur Baher and East Talpiyot neighborhoods, Palestinians burned tires and threw Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles, according to the authorities.

On Tuesday morning, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat visited the Temple Mount with the’s Police Chief to discuss the holy site’s security issues.

Israeli forces have restricted access to the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Mosque to women, children, and men over 40 with Israeli identity cards.

On Monday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited the site and declared that “there will not be a Palestinian state without East Jerusalem as its capital”.