RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Tuesday of leading the region toward a "religious war," saying frequent visits by Jewish worshippers to a site sacred to both Islam and Judaism are fueling clashes that have raised fears of a widespread outbreak of fighting.
The accusation drew a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Abbas was making matters worse.
"Instead of calming tempers, he is inflaming them. Instead of educating his people for peace, Abu Mazen is educating them for terror attacks," Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address, referring to Abbas.
After meeting his Security Cabinet for several hours, Netanyahu also said security forces had been bolstered, and that he would begin imposing tough measures against violent demonstrators.
Much of the recent unrest has stemmed from tensions surrounding the holy site in Jerusalem's Old City known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
Visits by Jewish worshippers have raised concerns among Muslims that Israel is secretly trying to take over the site, fanning strife in a region already on edge following the collapse of U.S.-led peace talks, Israel's bloody war last summer in the Gaza Strip, and new Israeli settlement construction plans in east Jerusalem.
Israeli soldiers stand guard on the main road near the West bank village of Bet Sahour during the fu …
The tensions at the shrines have frequently boiled over into violent demonstrations and have provided the backdrop to a series of bloody attacks on Israelis by Palestinians.
In a fiery speech to thousands of supporters at his West Bank headquarters, Abbas said Israel was trying to divide the Jerusalem site, which includes the Al-Aqsa Mosque, much as it split a shared holy site in the West Bank city of Hebron after a Jewish settler gunned down 29 Muslim worshippers 29 years ago.
"Leaders of Israel are mistaken if they think they can divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque as they have done in Ibrahimi Mosque, and they will retreat from this one, too," Abbas said.
"By dividing the mosques, they are leading us to a religious war, and no one — Muslim or Christian — will accept that Jerusalem be theirs," Abbas said, urging Palestinians to defend the site. "Jerusalem is our capital, and there will be no concessions."
Abbas' speech marked the 10th anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, the longtime Palestinian leader and founder of the dominant Fatah faction.
Credit to Yahoo.com
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