UN Security Council to meet Tuesday on violence at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque

AFP , Monday 18 Apr 2022

The UN Security Council will meet on Tuesday over violence around a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site of Al-Aqsa Mosque that wounded 170 people at the weekend, diplomatic sources told AFP.

Jerusalem
Israeli border police chase Palestinian youths in Jerusalem s Old City, on April 17, 2022. AFP

The meeting, called by China, France, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, and Ireland, will be held behind closed doors and comes after days of violence in and around Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

The clashes at a tense time when the Jewish Passover festival coincides with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan 

Jews are allowed to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, but not to pray at the site, the holiest place in Judaism and third-holiest in Islam.

The unrest happened just two days after clashes with Palestinians at the same site. Violence in Jerusalem between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators a year ago escalated into an 11-day Gaza war.

Israel says security forces were forced to enter the compound after Palestinians stockpiled stones and other objects and hurled rocks in the direction of an adjacent Jewish holy site.

The Palestinians and Arab states accused the police of storming the site in violation of longstanding arrangements known as the status quo

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