Abbas working to restore calm in West Bank, Israeli defense sources say

Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas is exerting his influence in an attempt to ease tensions and restore quiet on the ground in the West Bank, Israeli defense sources told Israel Radio on Friday. According to the report, Israeli security heads are trying to figure out ways to adequately cope with 'lone wolf' attackers. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, accused Abbas of 'treason' on Friday for maintaining security cooperation with Israel. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau, told supporters in Gaza on Friday that the group's chief rival, Abbas, was guilty of 'a crime' and that the PA head would one day 'stand trial.' Despite the security coordination, the Israeli government has accused Abbas of contributing to the violence through anti-Israel incitement, particularly with his remarks about Temple Mount. According to Channel 2, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched emissaries to Ramallah to meet with the Palestinian leader. Netanyahu's representatives exhorted Abbas to cease making inflammatory statements about Israeli 'violations' of al-Aksa mosque. “Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won't allow them to do so and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem,” Abbas said in his Ramallah office during a meeting with east Jerusalem activists last month. Abbas said the Palestinians were determined to prevent Israel from passing its scheme to “divide” the Aksa Mosque compound. “There will be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem,” he stressed. “We are in Jerusalem and we will stay in it to defend our Islamic and Christian holy sites. We're not going to leave our country.” He praised Muslim male and female worshipers whose job it is to harass Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount. “Each drop of blood that was spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood as long as it's for the sake of Allah. Every shahid (martyr) will be in heaven and every wounded person will be rewarded, by Allah's will.”

Abbas working to restore calm in West Bank, Israeli defense sources say

According to the report, Israeli security heads are trying to figure out ways to adequately cope with "lone wolf" attackers.

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