July 3, 2026 Categories: US / The Temple Mount / Palestinian Authority / News Briefs
Kerry Tells Abbas to 'Cool It'
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Palestinian Authority chairman Abbas Saturday and told him to calm down the incitement to violence, according to Palestinian Authority media.
Abbas responded to Kerry that Israel must stop settlers from provoking Arabs.
During the day, Fatah, the party headed by Abbas, claimed that two Jerusalem terrorists who were killed by Israeli forces belonged to their party.
The Obama administration has been retrying to keep a low profile during the escalation of violence, restricting its comments to condemnations "in the strongest possible terms violence against Israeli and Palestinian civilians.
Spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the daily press briefing Friday:
We continue to urge all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm and refrain from actions and rhetoric that would further escalate tensions.
I think the Secretary addressed this, I thought very well, earlier this week in urging calm, condemning the violence, and calling for a return to – at least in terms of Haram al-Sharif and the Temple Mount, a return to the status quo, and for both sides to take the tensions down.
