GENEVA (Sputnik) — A wave of violence between the sides erupted in recent weeks, resulting in dozens being killed and injured in stabbings in Jerusalem, the West Bank and across Israel, sparked by alleged plans to allow non-Muslims to pray at Islam’s third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
"The violations committed by settlers and extremists protected by the Israeli occupation forces against our Christian and Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem … this will change the conflict from a political conflict into a religious one, this will have grave consequences on all," Abbas said in his address to the UN Human Rights Council.
Palestine seeks the recognition of its independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip — lands occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Israeli government has so far refused to recognize the State of Palestine as an independent diplomatic entity.
