Palestinians Urge International Protection, Israel Says No

The exchange at an emergency council meeting on Friday - called by Arab states after a spate of Israeli violence against Palestinians highlighted the deepening anger and distrust between the two sides after decades of conflict.

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the council the issue of protection "has become more urgent than any time before" because of Israeli aggression "against our defenseless Palestinian people," including at the Jerusalem site that includes the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most sacred place in Islam, and the ancient Hebrew Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism.

Mansour called on the council to implement a 1994 resolution adopted after a Jewish settler killed 29 Muslim worshippers at a holy site in Hebron. It called on Israel "to guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territory" including by "a temporary international or foreign presence," and to disarm settlers, according to The Associated Press.

But Israel's new UN Ambassador Danny Danon repeated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's commitment not to change the status quo at the site and told reporters before the emergency meeting that "Israel will not agree to any international presence on the Temple Mount." His deputy, David Roet, repeated the same words minutes later in the Security Council chamber.

Danon claimed "any such intervention would violate the decades-long status quo."

Jordan's UN Ambassador Dina Kawar, whose country is custodian of the al-Aqsa compound, said Jordan is not pushing for a new international force. But she said Israeli security forces should stay away from al-Aqsa.

Taye-Brook Zerihoun, the UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs, told the council that Israel's long occupation of Palestinian territory and diminishing prospects for achieving a Palestinian state "have transformed long-simmering Palestinian anger into outright rage."

He said "this stark reality" has been compounded by increasingly dire economic conditions, including bleak employment prospects for Palestinian youths and expanding Israeli settlement activities.

Zerihoun warned Israel that the current crisis cannot be resolved by security measures alone.

France's UN Ambassador Francois Delattre said it's crucial it's crucial the two-state solution does not fall apart.

France is drafting a council statement that will appeal for calm, restraint by all parties and maintaining the status quo at the Jerusalem religious site, he said.

Delattre also called for a meeting of the Quartet of Mideast mediators - the US, UN, EU and Russia - along with key Arab nations to work on confidence-building measures to ease tensions, support Palestinian reconciliation, and draw up "guarantees and compensation that each party will need" in order to sign a peace agreement.