Palestinians call for international intervention on Jerusalem

The day after an assassination attempt on a Jewish activist, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah blamed the current disturbances in Jerusalem on Israel and warned that the situation could rapidly get worse.

Hamdallah said Israeli “violations” of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are raising tensions and the violence could lead to an “explosion,” Israel Radio reported on Thursday.

During a meeting with Maltese Foreign Minister George Vella in Ramallah, the Palestinian prime minister called on the international community to immediately intervene in the Jerusalem unrest and bring an end to the “violations.”

Earlier, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Israel’s closure of the Temple Mount — following the attempted assassination of activist Yehudah Glick — a “declaration of war.”

Police closed the compound early Thursday out of fear of clashes in the wake of the shooting the night before of Glick, who campaigned for Jewish rights on the site, and as Israeli right-wing groups vowed to march on the Temple Mount.

Glick was left in serious but stable condition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center after being shot by an assailant on a motorcycle after leaving a conference entitled “Israel returns to the Temple Mount” in central Jerusalem on Wednesday night.

An Arab suspect, identified in the media as Mu’taz Hijazi, was killed in a gunfight with the police early Thursday morning in the mixed Jewish-Arab Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor.

Senior Palestinian official Jabril Rajoub condemned the killing of Mu’taz Hijazi. Rajoub and Hijazi’s mother both claimed he was killed in cold blood.

Police said Hijazi shot at them during an arrest attempt and they returned fire.

The shootings came amid weeks of rising tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem. Last week, a Palestinian man drove a car into a crowded train platform located along the seam separating East and West Jerusalem, killing two. In the days following, Palestinians have clashed continuously with Israeli police in Arab neighborhoods of the capital. Israel responded to the rise in violence by increasing its police presence, deploying an additional 1,000 officers to the city.