National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States has “serious concerns” about the violent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem.
Sullivan told Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat U.S. officials will “press for steps to ensure calm, deescalate tensions, and denounce violence,” adding that the launching of rocket attacks from Gaza toward Israel “is unacceptable and must be condemned.”
While noting the Biden administration’s “serious concerns about the potential evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood,” Sullivan encouraged the Israeli government to “pursue appropriate measures to ensure calm during Jerusalem Day commemorations.”
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Late Friday evening, Palestinian worshippers clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a major holy site sacred to Muslims and Jews, according to the Associated Press. More than 130 people were wounded in the violence, 83 of whom were hospitalized, the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said, and the Israeli government said six officers were wounded.
The violent encounter was the latest in a series of clashes between Israelis and Palestinians following Israel‘s planned evictions of several Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. While Palestine views east Jerusalem as its capital, Israel has claimed the entire city as its own. On Monday, an Israeli court is expected to issue a ruling on the legality of the evictions.
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Israel is currently contending with the results from an election that left the country’s future leadership unclear. While five-term incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was originally given a mandate to attempt to piece together a governing coalition, he missed the deadline, prompting President Reuven Rivlin to give Yair Lapid, who heads the oppositional Yesh Atid party, the opportunity to piece together a government. Both Netanyahu and Lapid have spoken in support of Israeli officers in the wake of the clashes with Palestinians.
If Lapid is unsuccessful and all other options fail, the country will face another election this fall, the fifth in just over two years.
