Kerry, Abbas meet in Amman amid Jerusalem tensions

AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — US Secretary of State John Kerry met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Jordan on Thursday for talks aimed at calming a wave of violence gripping Israel and the West Bank.

The meeting in Amman came hours after fresh clashes broke out in East Jerusalem where Israeli police fired tear gas, percussion bombs and rubber bullets to disperse Palestinian demonstrators.

The meeting between Abbas and Kerry, who arrived in Jordan late on Wednesday, came a day after Israel approved plans for another 200 homes in a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem — a move sharply criticized by Washington.

Kerry and a somber-looking Abbas embraced and had a brief whispered exchange as they met at the Palestinian leader’s hillside home in Amman, where US and Palestinian flags hung in front of a large nighttime photo of Jerusalem’s flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque, on the Temple Mount.

Much of the unrest in Jerusalem has been fueled by settlement activity in the city’s eastern sector and by religious tensions at the Temple Mount compound, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews.

The Palestinians have also been infuriated by a right-wing Jewish campaign for prayer rights at the Temple Mount, although Israel insists it has no plans to change the decades-old status quo.

Abbas’s spokesman said the Palestinian leader was expected to tell Kerry of his growing concerns over Israel’s actions, particularly in Jerusalem.

“The Palestinian position will be made crystal clear: the Israeli violations are a red line and cannot be tolerated — especially with the tension and Israeli escalation in al-Aqsa and Jerusalem,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh told AFP.

In a letter to the UN Security Council sent on Wednesday, Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour demanded international intervention over al-Aqsa, warning that tensions could “spiral out of control.”

Clashes at the Temple Mount compound have drawn sharp criticism from both the Palestinians and Jordan, which has custodial rights at the shrine.

Ahead of Kerry’s arrival, King Abdullah met Abbas in Amman for talks in which he expressed his “total rejection” of Israel’s “repeated aggressions and provocations in Jerusalem,” a palace statement said.

In a move likely to further heighten tensions around the Temple Mount compound, Israel’s Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said late Wednesday that he would reinstall metal detectors at the entrances along with new facial-recognition technology.

“We’ll increase the supervision of people entering the compound, both Jews and Muslims,” he said.

But Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, head of the Islamic Waqf which runs the compound, rejected the idea.

“This is unacceptable to all Muslims. It cannot be installed,” he told AFP.

The US State Department sharply condemned Israel’s announcement of 200 new homes in the neighborhood of Ramot.

“We are deeply concerned by this decision, particularly given the tense situation in Jerusalem,” said spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded both sides do everything possible “to avoid further exacerbating an already tense environment.”