Why has Palestinian moderate government slammed Israel on mosque?”
By Alastair Macdonald JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinians’ Western-backed government hailed on Monday people who fought Israeli police in Jerusalem as defenders of a Muslim holy site, and accused Israelis of trying to wreck U.S.-sponsored peace talks. A day after clashes in the Old City that injured about 30 people and had Palestinian leaders warning of a Third Intifada, or uprising, the statement from the cabinet of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad showed a degree of unity among Western-backed “moderates” and Islamist hardliners in aiming anger at Israel. With U.S. President Barack Obama’s peace envoy due to hold more talks this week to push for a resumption of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the fighting over the holy city at the heart of the conflict was not auspicious. “The cabinet … hailed our people who rushed yesterday to defend blessed al-Aqsa mosque and thwarted the attempt by extremist settlers to break into the compound,” the Palestinian government sai
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinians’ Western-backed government hailed on Monday people who fought Israeli police in Jerusalem as defenders of a Muslim holy site, and accused Israelis of trying to wreck U.S.-sponsored peace talks. A day after clashes in the Old City that injured about 30 people and had Palestinian leaders warning of a Third Intifada, or uprising, the statement from the cabinet of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad showed a degree of unity among Western-backed “moderates” and Islamist hardliners in aiming anger at Israel. With U.S. President Barack Obama’s peace envoy due to hold more talks this week to push for a resumption of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the fighting over the holy city at the heart of the conflict was not auspicious. “The cabinet … hailed our people who rushed yesterday to defend blessed al-Aqsa mosque and thwarted the attempt by extremist settlers to break into the compound,” the Palestinian government said in the statement fro
