Abbas must stop inciting violence, Netanyahu warns

by Shlomo Cesana, Daniel Siryoti and Yori Yalon

"It is impossible to stop the violence if the incitement that leads to the violence is not stopped," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at Sunday's cabinet meeting • U.N. Security Council to meet on Monday to discuss the Middle East.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas | Photo credit: AP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Sunday's cabinet meeting that while he was meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss calming tensions in Israel, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was working towards the opposite goal.

"It is impossible to stop the violence if the incitement that leads to the violence is not stopped," Netanyahu said. 

"Within 24 hours of the meeting in Amman, official Palestinian Authority media outlets called for a day of rage in Jerusalem. Abbas must stop this incitement that leads to violence."

As tensions continue to rise in Jerusalem, the United Nations Security Council plans to hold a meeting in New York on Monday to discuss "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question." European Union foreign ministers are expected to hold a meeting on the same topic, also on Monday.

Representatives at both meetings are expected to call on Israel not to change the status quo on the Temple Mount and to avoid construction in the settlements or in Jewish neighborhoods beyond the Green Line.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman touched on the issue on Sunday during his meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He stressed that he hopes that the country's approach to Israel will remain "balanced."

Steinmeier said he hoped there would be no escalation in tensions, and added that there was no chance for calm without a sustainable peace agreement. 

The German foreign minister also met with Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. 

"We are fighting fundamentalism and that is a real problem," Rivlin told Steinmeier.

Shlomo Cesana, Daniel Siryoti and Yori Yalon

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=21515

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