Netanyahu orders home demolitions as violence continues

As unrest continued in Jerusalem yesterday, Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, ordered the demolition of the homes of Palestinians who carry out attacks on Israelis.

The decision, taken at an emergency session of senior ministers and security officials convened by Mr Netanyahu, came after a second Israeli died of wounds sustained on Wednesday when a Palestinian driver drove a van into a group of Israelis at a Jerusalem light-rail stop.

Human rights groups have criticised the policy of home demolitions, noting that Israel fails to demolish the homes of Jews convicted of carrying out fatal attacks on Palestinians.

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s old city, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, has been the flashpoint for the recent eruption of violence, with radical Jews and right-wing Knesset members demanding the right of Jews to worship on the compound.

Clashes erupted once again yesterday in Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem following Muslim prayers. Thousands of residents marched in a mock funeral for the Palestinian driver who carried out Wednesday’s attack. Police have drafted thousands of reinforcements into Jerusalem and have stepped up surveillance of Palestinian neighbourhoods, using hot air balloons, in an effort to quell the violence.

Israel’s chief rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, yesterday criticised Jews who visit the Temple Mount. “We need to stop this. Only then will the people of Israel’s blood not be spilt,” he said.

Mr Netanyahu reaffirmed yesterday that Israel was committed to maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount for all faiths. At a meeting with the European Union’s new foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, he accused Muslim leaders of conducting a “campaign of vilification and slander that presents Israel as seeking to undermine the al-Aqsa mosque” and to change access policies there, which he stressed was “absolutely” not on the table.

EU keen for ’new start’

Ms Mogherini, on her first official trip since replacing Catherine Ashton last week, said the EU was keen for a “new start” in the Middle East and sought to “have a major role in supporting a solution.”

Ahead of her trip, the new foreign policy chief spoke of her wish that a Palestinian state could be established by the end of her five-year term. Yesterday she remained hopeful that a diplomatic solution was possible.

“We see that there might be a political will to resume the talks and to especially make sure that these talks bring results,” she said.

She denounced recent terror attacks as well as Israel’s ongoing construction of settlements, but said the EU remains committed to peace and security, which were directly linked.

Ms Mogherini was due to visit the Gaza Strip today, accompanied by Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah. However, Mr Hamdallah yesterday cancelled his visit after a series of bomb blasts in Gaza on Thursday night targeted officials from president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. Fatah and Hamas blamed each other for the blasts.