March 5, 2010

The Jewish residents of a building in eastern Jerusalem have offered to close the top levels of the building rather than vacate.\n\nIn a letter to state Prosecutor Moshe Lador, residents of Beit Yonatan in the Arab village of Silwan said they would seal off or remove the top three floors of the seven-story building in order to be permitted to remain in their home. The building is home to eight Jewish families.\n

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.\n\nRocks were thrown from the direction of the mosques above toward Jews praying below at the Western Wall plaza.\n

The United States government has committed to playing a role in indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and promised that if the talks were to fail, the U.S. will assign blame and take action, according to a document sent by the U.S. to the Palestinian Authority, which Haaretz obtained on Friday.\n\nThe U.S. government sent the document to the Palestinians responding to their inquires regarding the U.S. initiative to launch indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.\n\n\”We expect both parties to act seriously and in good faith. If one side, in our judgment, is not living up to our expectations, we will make our concerns clear and we will act accordingly to overcome that obstacle,\” it was written.