Iran Press/ Middle East: The two high-ranking US diplomats visited Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank in a bid to end a wave of tension in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Abbas made the request Thursday in a meeting with US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Yael Lambert and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Palestinian news agency (WAFA) said that Abbas told the two US diplomats that "Israel must immediately stop its assaults against the Palestinians and fully respect the legal and historical position of Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem."
According to WAFA, Abbas held Israel fully responsible for the deterioration of the situation in the Palestinian territories, mainly in East Jerusalem and at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
"Having no political horizon amid Israel's refusal to stop unilateral actions and abide by the signed agreements, the Palestinian leadership will be entitled to implement the decisions of the Central Council of the PLO in the near future," Abbas said.
He warned against the continued Israeli escalation on the ground, including the incursions into Palestinian cities, villages, and camps, killings of Palestinians, and other "brutal attacks in the West Bank, which will lead to unbearable dire consequences."
"It's important to create a political horizon that would lead to an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem," Abbas said, calling for the reopening of the US Consulate in East Jerusalem.
The tension between Israel and the Palestinians has flared up in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the past three weeks as the Jewish festival of Passover overlaps with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Israeli forces attacked Palestinian worshippers inside al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem in a pre-dawn raid on April 15.
To date, at least 350 Palestinians have been injured and more than 450 detained in clashes (Friday, April 22nd). The clashes occurred just hours after the regime’s forces killed another Palestinian in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
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Palestine’s official Wafa news agency said 17-year-old Palestinian, Shawkat Kamal Abed, succumbed to his wounds a day after being shot during an attack conducted by Israeli forces in Kafr Dan village, northwest of Jenin. Before succumbing to his injuries, the teenager was transferred to Ibn Sina Hospital in Jenin for treatment.
Announcing the death of Kamal Abed, the Palestinian Health Ministry said the latest fatality brought to seven the number of Palestinians killed across the occupied territory in less than 48 hours.
Fawaz Hamayel, from the town of Beita in the south of Nablus, succumbed to gunshot wounds by the Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday. Shas Kammaji, the brother of the Palestinian prisoner Ayham Kammaji, was killed in clashes in the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin, and Israeli soldiers fatally shot Mustafa Faisal Abu al-Rub at the western entrance to Jenin.
Tensions had escalated in the occupied land since April 7, 2022, when Palestinians launched a retaliatory attack in the heart of Israel, Tel Aviv, as part of their resistance to the intensified Israeli crackdown. Since then, Israeli forces have been carrying out raids in different towns, especially in Jenin.
The attack was conducted when a Palestinian youth, identified as Raad Fathi Hazem, entered a pub on a crowded main street in Tel Aviv and began firing his weapon.
The 28-year-old, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, was killed by Israeli forces in a pre-dawn firefight near a mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said that since January, 42 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, including women and children.
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