The UN Security Council voiced concern over the fighting on Friday between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank and urged both sides to resume peace talks.
Clashes broke out between Israeli police officers and Muslim rock throwers at the end of Friday prayers on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem following a sermon on a recent Israeli decision to include two West Bank shrines on a list of national heritage sites.
Rocks were thrown from the direction of the mosques above toward Jews praying below at the Western Wall plaza. Israeli police entered the Temple Mount compound to quell the rock throwing. The stone throwers eventually retreated to inside the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Fifteen police officers were lightly hurt in the incident; three were transported to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, two to Shaare Zedek and the rest were treated at the scene.
Palestinians reported that dozens were injured by Israeli security forces.
President of the Security Council for March, Gabon's UN Ambassador Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, told reporters "The members of the Security Council expressed their concern at the current tense situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem."
"They urged all sides to show restraint and avoid provocative acts," he said after a closed-door meeting. "They stressed that peaceful dialogue was the only way forward and looked forward to an early resumption of negotiations."
The permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, welcomed the council statement, adding that the U.S. decision not to block it "is a signal that the United States wants this effort to succeed" and Israel to restrain itself.
A U.S. official, however, told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the American delegation had not agreed with the statement and said it was adopted due to what the official described as "procedural confusion".
Council statements are agreed by consensus and are nonbinding. The U.S. delegation has often blocked proposed Security Council statements condemning Israel.
The clashes continued on Friday after the incident on the Temple Mount, with young Arabs throwing rocks at police at several locations in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Police arrested three stone throwers.
Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch blamed Palestinians for the outbreak of clashes.
"I accuse the Palestinians, including Hamas operatives, of inciting the situation," he said after arrving at the Temple Mount.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, condemned police for entering the compound and said that "Israel continues to place obstacles in front of (US Middle East envoy George) Mitchell's efforts" to revive long-stalled peace negotiations.
The Palestinian Authority president's office released a statement saying that "Israel has crossed a red line along the path to renew the peace talks, which have been supported by the Arab league," Abbas' Bureau said in a statement
Always tense, the Temple Mount has recently seen sporadic clashes linked at least in part to the Israeli government decision to include the West Bank shrines on the heritage site list. The move's practical ramifications are unclear, but Palestinians see it as a provocation.
Najeh Btirat, a Waqf official, said the clash followed a mosque sermon on the issue.
The Friday sermon focused on the Islamic sites that are being targeted by Israel and the need to preserve them, he said. About 300 young men threw stones at police after prayers, he said.
In Hebron, a group of about 100 Palestinians protested outside the Cave of the Patriarchs.
The Temple Mount is under Israeli security control, but day-to-day administration has been left in the hands of the Waqf. Jews are not allowed to pray at the site.
