USA: CALL FOR CALM AFTER CLASHES BETWEEN ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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English/Nat Both the United States and the United Nations called for calm Wednesday after the worst clashes between Israelis and Palestinians for three years. Seven died in the violence and 350 were wounded in clashes in the West Bank towns of Ramallah and Bethlehem. The violence was triggered by an Israeli decision to open a tourist tunnel near Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site. The clashes between Israelis and Palestinians were the worst since the start of Palestinian self-rule in 1994, causing officials on both sides to issue urgent appeals for calm. At the United Nations in New York Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said nothing would be resolved through violence. SOUNDBITE: "Violence will lead nowhere, it might hurt those who have created it. I hope that intelligence and wisdom will guide the ways. At this very moment we are all making considerable efforts in order to calm the situation and proceed in our negotiations." SUPER CAPTION: David Levy, Israeli Foreign Minister Protest erupted over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to order the opening of a new entrance to an archaeological tunnel running under the Muslim quarter in East Jerusalem's Old City. The propose opening would be in the area around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam. The P-L-O representative to the U-N said the situation was extremely tense. SOUNDBITE: "In general, the situation is very tense and I think what we need to see is a basic change in the Israeli policies and positions related to the peace process as a whole and related to the actual situation on the ground, especially the imposition of siege on Palestinian territory, the confiscation of land, the resumption of the colonial settlement activities on the Palestinian territories. All these important issues should be dealt with, the Israeli violations should stop and adherence to the basis of the peace process and the agreement reached between the PLO and the government of Israel should take place, otherwise, I'm afraid the whole situation might get even worse. Quite frankly, it might get out of hand and we might see a reversal of the peace process. SUPER CAPTION: Nasser al-Kidwa, PLO representative to U-N Palestinians condemned the tunnel project as an attempt to undermine the Arab presence in the disputed holy city and blame Israel for the subsequent protests. Israeli troops opened fire with live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas on civilians protesting against Israeli archaeological excavations near East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque. SOUNDBITE: "Palestinians were demonstrating against Israeli actions in Jerusalem, specifically the opening of the tunnel under the Al Aqsa Mosque them importance significance, religious as well as cultural significance of this action, so wide, broad demonstrations took place today (Wednesday) and, as I said, the Israeli army indiscriminately opened fire against those demonstrators and caused such a mount of casualties." SUPER CAPTION:Nasser al-Kidwa, PLO representative to U-N The United States was quick to call for calm from both sides before things got out of hand. SOUNDBITE: "We have been in touch with the parties on a regular basis in the last twenty-four hours. About two hours ago, I talked with Prime Minister Netanyahu who is in Paris tonight, and urged him as I have been urging Chairman Arafat to take steps to calm the situation, to defuse it and get back to productive negotiations." SUPER CAPTION: Warren Christopher, US Secretary of State The same appeal for calm went out from the United Nations Security Council, currently meeting in New York. SOUNDBITE: SUPER CAPTION: Alfredo Lopez Cabral, U-N Security Council spokesman You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3040fe80277054614b9e9108189d1b5c Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork