Abbas: Current conflict could turn into religious war

Mahmoud Abbas warns that the current round of violence between Israel and the Palestinians — triggered by claims that Israel was seeking to change the status quo at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount — could escalate into religious war.

“We are in a conflict that could become a religious war, that would not just affect the region, but the entire world,” the Maariv website quotes Abbas as saying in a speech from Ramallah.

But, Abbas says, the Palestinians “cannot accept a change in the status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” The mosque sits on the Temple Mount, which is also revered by Jews as the site of the two Jewish Temples.

“We are people of peace and law, but we will not accept a continuation of the current situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” Abbas says.

He also warns that the Palestinians “will not allow the current situation to continue. We are not aggressive, rather seekers of justice.”