Diplomatic sources stated on Monday that the UN Security Council will convene this week to discuss simmering tensions in Jerusalem.
The closed-door meeting scheduled for Tuesday comes at the request of China, France, Ireland, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, and the US.
Since the beginning of April, tensions have been running high across the Palestinian territories amid repeated Israeli arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank. Dozens of Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli forces on Friday in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
The situation was further inflamed when daily settler incursions took place into the flashpoint site to celebrate the week-long Jewish Passover holiday.
Claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the “Temple Mount.”
During the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located. In a move never recognized by the international community, it annexed the entire city in 1980.
