PA official: Israel responsible for Jerusalem violence

The spokesman of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, accused Israel Thursday of fueling riots and violence in Jerusalem, and asserted that the Israeli government’s policies in the West Bank directly contributed to the sharp rise in violence across the region.

“The continued occupation of Palestinian lands is the real reason for all the violence that takes place, whether in Palestine or throughout the region,” Abu Rudaineh said, according to the Palestinian Wafa news site.

Abbas’s spokesman added that Israel’s actions were rejected by the international community at large. Accusing Israel of inciting against Abbas, the spokesman warned that this would create an “explosive climate in the Palestinian and regional arenas.”

Abu Rudeineh did not directly comment on Wednesday’s terror attack on a Jerusalem light rail station that killed a three-month-old baby, Chaya Zissel Braun, and wounded eight others. The attacker, Abdel Rahman Al-Shaludi, was a nephew of slain Hamas explosives expert Mohiyedine Sharif and was believed to be a Hamas supporter.

Abu Rudeineh’s comments came in response to repeated condemnation of Abbas by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of the deadly attack. Netanyahu charged that Abbas was inciting violence against Jews in Jerusalem.

“This is how [Abbas’s] partners in government [a reference to Hamas] act, the same Abbas who just a few days ago incited attacks on Jews in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Later, Netanyahu lashed out at the international community for failing to criticize Abbas.

The Palestinian leader “both glorifies the murderers and also embraces the organization to which the terrorists belong, Hamas,” Netanyahu said Thursday during a briefing with security officials in Jerusalem’s national police headquarters. “And faced with these actions of the Authority chairman, we find only a flaccid [response] internationally. [World leaders] are unwilling to say two words, even one word of criticism of him [Abbas]. We do not share this weakness. We will stand firmly for our rights and obligations to defend our capital.”

“The attack in Jerusalem is supported by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas,” Netanyahu said.

While Abbas did not directly comment on the attack, his Fatah movement published a poster Thursday celebrating the Palestinian attacker.

“The Silwan branch of Fatah honors the heroic martyr Abdel Rahman Al-Shaludi, who executed the Jerusalem operation which led to the running over of settlers in the occupied city of Jerusalem,” read the notice, posted on Fatah’s official Facebook page.

Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu-Aynayn dubbed Al-Shaludi “a hero” in Facebook comments posted Thursday, citing his time spent in Israeli prisons, the watchdog Palestinian Media Watch said.

Elhanan Miller and Ilan Ben Zion contributed to this report.