LIVE BLOG: Violence in Jerusalem

Jerusalem's municipal planning committee has authorised 78 new homes to be built in neighbourhoods of occupied East Jerusalem.

50 new housing units are to be built in Har Homa and 28 in Ramot, a municipal spokeswoman said.

Palestinian Authority officials criticised the move

"These decisions are a continuation of the Israeli government's policy to cause more tension, push towards further escalation and waste any chance to create an atmosphere for calm," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said.

In what Haaretz has termed an "unprecedented" move, the Jerusalem District court has said it won't be releasing the bodies of the Abu Jamal cousins to their family, supposedly in order to deter future would-be terrorists.

The decision came in response to a request by the family of the men and is thought to be the first instance of its kind in Israeli legal history.

“We can’t commit to a certain date [for returning the bodies],” Chief Inspector Yigal Elmaliah told the court.

“There are two aspects, the investigative aspect, which the court has seen, and another aspect that I’m not sure I’m authorized to report. For this reason we are arguing that this isn’t the forum to discuss it. The State of Israel is trying to cope with the recent wave of attacks. One possibility being considered is not to return the bodies to the families, but [for the state] to bury them. The issue is being examined at the highest levels.”

Al-Jazeera + have a useful explainer on the Jerusalem conflict and the policies that keep the city on edge.

According to B'tselem: 14,000 Palestinians have lost their resisdence in Jerusalem since 1967.

35% of East Jerusalem has been zoned for the contruction of illegal settlements.

Since 1967 Israel has demolished 2,000 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem for being built without permits.

Israeli media outlet, NRG, is reporting that the houses of three Palestinian families whose relatives are linked to recent attacks on Israeli citizens are to be demolised.

• Moataz Hejazi, 32-year-old killed by Israeli police after trying to assassinate hardline Jewish activist Yehuda Glick last month.
• Mouhammed Gabis, a Palestinian bulldozer operator who attacked a bus in August.
• Ibrahim Alackari who ploughed a van into pedestrians on a main street in Jerusalem in early November.

An editorial from the Israeli news website, Ynet, raises some interesting questions, criticizing the Israeli authorities for scapegoating Abbas and for not coming down hard enough on right-wing Jewish groups.

The piece also calls Netanyahu out for blaming the synagogue attack on incitement instead of on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The 10 quiet years are behind us" Israeli editorial on squandered decade of calm and the religious strife that looms http://t.co/M8L2ch58bX

— Noah Browning (@sheikhNB) November 19, 2014

A third intifada?

From one isolated incident to another isolated incident, we've got ourselves an intifada on our hands, which is threatening to be as fatal as the two previous ones. Fatal both for us and for them: There are no winners in this affair – only victims.

On Palestinians celebrating the Synagogue attack:

We cannot accept the cries of joy in Gaza and in some of the West Bank cities. Those rejoicing in such a massacre lose their moral right to cry about the occupation. The Palestinians have had many joys in 100 years of conflict, and each one of them further deepened their tragedy.

On right-wing extremist Jewish groups:

Surveillance of extreme Jewish people and groups must also be expanded. According to past experience, when the government restrains itself, out of choice or due to constraints, the Jewish terrorists jump into the fire. Only a week ago they torched a mosque in a small village east of Ramallah. The price tag for the synagogue massacre could be much higher.

On Netanyahu blaming Abbas:

Israel's ministers would be wise to leave Abbas alone. Claiming that the two villains from Jabel Mukaber went out to murder because they heard Abbas give an inciting speech is like claiming that the "price tag" criminals went out to desecrate a mosque because they heard Netanyahu give an inciting speech. The Palestinian terrorists disregard Abbas just like the Jewish inflamers disregard Netanyahu.

On whether "incitement" is to blame:

Netanyahu reiterated that "the incitement is the root of the conflict." The incitement, indeed, inflames the hatred, but it is an outcome of the conflict, not the reason for its existence. Only a naïve person would believe that ending the incitement would end the conflict: There is a land here which both sides are finding it difficult to share, historic, religious, ethnic and national animosity. This bleeding conflict deserves some respect: Ending it with incitement belittles it.

Is this a holy war?

The fourth, and perhaps main point, is that the shift from a national conflict to a religious war has been in the air for quite a while. IDF, Shin Bet and police officials have been warning about it repeatedly. Leave God alone, they said, both our god and their god. Don't get religion involved. A thousand firefighters are incapable of putting out a fire with God at its center.

The mother of Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, who killed two Israelis after driving into civilians in Jerusalem last month, spoke following the demolition of her home by Israeli forces.

"The Israeli occupation wants to break up our family and displace us. They think that by demolishing the houses of martyrs they will deter the people of Jerusalem and Palestine, but violence begets violence," she told Ma'an news agency.

"I don't know what to do and where we will live in the coming days," she said, while sitting on a couch in an apartment next to her demolished home.

The family has temporarily moved to her husband's brother's home.

The mother of Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, who killed two Israelis after driving into civilians in Jerusalem last... http://t.co/dM40Maf5Ya

— Team Palestina (@TeamPalestina) November 19, 2014

Jordan has called for "restraint and calm" after two Palestinians killed five Israelis at a Jerusalem synagogue.

As custodian of the holy places in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, Jordan also urged a halt to Israeli actions at the city's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound that have helped fuel months of Palestinian unrest.

Government spokesman Mohammed Mumeni said Amman "condemns all acts of violence and terrorism against civilians, whatever the source of the violence or the motives".

"The government is closely following the serious situation in Jerusalem and calls for restraint and calm," he said, quoted by state news agency Petra.

Israeli authorities were quick to label the death a suicide.

But almost all Palestinians believe al-Ramouni was murdered by extremist settlers – a conviction built on inadequacies in the official report on his death and the context of persecution, marginalisation and deep fear felt by East Jerusalemites, and particularly those working in for Israeli employers, an MEE contributor reported. 

Gathering to pay their respects in Abu Dis yesterday afternoon, al-Ramouni’s colleagues at Egged said Palestinian drivers were hit by passengers and threatened, and that the word “Arab” was frequently used as a derogatory term against them. For the next two days, employees will continue a strike against the danger and harassment they face at work – a situation, they say, that’s based on racism and goes largely unrecognised by their Israeli employers.

“The Jewish Israelis, they hate us,” Nadeem, a driver in his early forties, told Middle East Eye.

“If they know that a driver is Arab, then they are going to start making it harder for them. They always curse us, and there is lots of tension between us, and this is only increasing. The attacks and the abuse are increasing. Their hatred against Arabs is growing every single day. It’s impossible to live with them and to deal with them anymore.”

Israeli radio announced today that 78 new settlement units have been approved for Jerusalem.

50 units will be built in the south of the city, though the exact location was not specified - a further 28 will be built in the north.

Israel's ongoing policy of settlement expansion has caused an escalation in tension in the city, and has attracted international criticism.

Naftali Bennett on Wednesday called for a military operation to be launched in East Jerusalem, similar to the actions taken during the second intifada.

In an interview with Israeli army radio, right-wing Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett called for more action from Israel, saying they should move from defence to offence in the wake of yesterday's deadly synagogue attack.

Photo credit: AFP

"Go in with Border Police forces, make arrests, create intelligence channels, stay there on a permanent basis, not just when there's a terror attack," he added.

"Instead of just placing guards at every cafe and restaurant in Israel, at every synagogue and every kindergarten, we need to go to the source."

Applications for gun licences in Israel are at an all-time high, reports Israeli news site Jewish Press.

According to the report, the website, run by the Israeli Ministry of Public Security, crashed this week due to unusually high traffic volumes.

The upsurge in interest in firearms in Israel, where it is estimated that some 500,000 civilians own firearms, comes amid months of unrest in Jerusalem and beyond.

However, a planned protest this morning, at which right-wing activists were asked to come "armed" to morning prayers at the Damascus gate in the Arab quarter of the Old City, attracted only a handful of participants.

Orez Ziv, MEE's reporter on the ground, told us that the majority of those who attended were officers deployed to police the demonstration.

Israel's Foreign MInistry this morning issued a stinging attack after the Spanish parliament's symbolic vote to recognise the state of Palestine.

"Spain's decision to recognise Palestine ends the hope of reaching a peace agreement," the ministry said in a statement after it was announced that Spain would recognise Palestine, but only after a comprehensive peace deal is reached with Israel.

"The decision encourages Palestinians to take extremist stances."

Israeli news site Ynet News reports this morning that three Tel Aviv residents were arrested by Israeli security forces overnight, after shouting "Allahu Akbar" from their apartments.

According to the site, the arrestees "clashed" with police who arrived at the scene.

Among the detainees is a well-known lawyer, whose name was not disclosed.

At least 23 people were arrested during disturbances on Tuesday evening.