Israel Braces For Palestinian 'Day Of Rage'

Dominic Waghorn
Sky News
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Jerusalem-Braced-For-Day-Of-Rage-Aft...

Jerusalem is bracing itself for more violence after an influential Egyptian cleric called for a 'day of rage' in protest over Israel's alleged abuses at Temple Mount.

Yusuf al Qaradawi's call follows two weeks of violence and rising tensions in Jerusalem and has raised speculation that a third Palestinian intifada or uprising may be imminent.

The causes of the unrest are vehemently disputed. Israelis accuse Palestinian extremists of inciting the violence while Palestinians say Israel is deliberately provoking disorder.

US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell has arrived in the region as the volatile mix continues to brew.

"We're going to continue with our efforts to achieve an early relaunch of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians," he told reporters.

Privately, however, his officials are not optimistic about the chances of a breakthrough.

The spark for the current unrest was a rumoured attempt by Jewish extremists to visit or even take over Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the religious compound in the centre of the Old City.

But tensions have been simmering for months.

Arab affairs analyst Hussein Ibish is not alone in drawing parallels with the past.

"It would be no exaggeration to call the present situation uncannily and very disturbingly reminiscent of the build-up to the unleashing of the second intifada," he said in his blog this week.

There has been simmering fury among Palestinians about Israeli official support for Jewish settlers taking over properties in Arab neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.

Despite current tensions, Israeli authorities allowed a stone-laying ceremony for a new settlement neighbourhood in the city on Wednesday.

Israel also allowed Jewish settlers to open a controversial new archaeological tunnel in the highly sensitive site of Silwan, adjacent to the Temple Mount compound.

This has helped Palestinian hardliners to accuse Israelis, apparently falsely, of tunnelling under the Mount itself.

There is also growing political instability among Palestinians contributing to the volatility.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is looking increasingly weak.

The US administration appears to have dropped its backing for his call for a freeze in Israeli settlements.

Mr Abbas has also been widely condemned for his handling of the Goldstone report into the Gaza war.

The ingredients of a major conflagration are there but in more doubt is whether Palestinians have either the will to launch an intifada or the ability to wage one.