WEST BANK (AP) - Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio that demands to halt Israeli construction there "are unreasonable" and predicted the row with the U.S. would blow over, saying neither side had an interest in escalation.
But Washington notified Israel early today that envoy George Mitchell had put off his trip indefinitely. Mitchell had planned on coming to wrap up preparations for relaunching Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. But now it's not clear when the indirect talks, to be mediated by Mitchell, will begin.
In East-Jerusalem, security forces, some on horseback, charged a group of more than 100 youths, who had set garbage bins afire and lobbed rocks at police. Palestinian merchants shuttered their stores, and Palestinian schools in the city were closed.
Violent clashes erupt in East Jerusalem as synagogue reopens.
The violence also threatened to spread to the West Bank. At the main checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem, dozens of Palestinian teens threw rocks and a few firebombs at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The Palestinian rescue service said six people were lightly injured. Israeli police said 39 people were arrested, including eight minors.
Palestinian officials called on the public to defend Muslim religious interests in Jerusalem following the re-dedication Monday of a historic synagogue in the Jewish quarter of the Old City.
The re-dedication has stoked recurring but unsubstantiated rumors that Jewish extremists are planning to take over the hilltop shrine at the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The site, known to Jews as Temple Mount, was home to the biblical Jewish temples and is Judaism's holiest site. Muslims call it the Noble Sanctuary and it hosts the Al-Aqsa mosque complex, Islam's third-holiest shrine.
Interior Minister Yishai and the Shas party in Netanyahu's coalition ... a choice made
● The Vice President in the Middle East
PS Even news outlets have adapted the spelling of the unified city of Jerusalem according to the Jewish state of Israel, by writing in their article: east Jerusalem. Very similar as it must have been 3,000 years ago, a millennium or so before the birth of prophet Muhammad.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
One wonders if a game of oneupmanship isn't going on between Jerusalem and Washington. We may have to wait until the AIPAC conference to find out where it all stands, whether Obama will back down, and Mitchell returns to play on the peace talks merry-go-round.
What interesting about your source, Oui, is that in this one, the eruptions are not being blamed on Hamas groups in the other territories. To be sure, I must have been reading an IDF news release whose source was not quoted. On the other hand, it is not like Abbas or Fatah these days to instigate unrest or reaction among Palestinians.
Most Western languages use different names for some foreign cities, and while there has been a tendency to switch to the original name in some cases (mostly just in English, and just for non-European cities), this would never have happened with Jerusalem, even if Israel had never existed, thanks to the biblical associations.
