U.N. Security Council Meeting on Middle East Tensions

The U.N. Security Council met to debate the latest turn in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a series of fatal skirmishes between Israeli police and Palestinians in East Jerusalem in which Israeli police temporarily closed the Al-Aqsa mosque for prayer, later added metal detectors to the house of worship, and removed them after protests. Al-Aqsa is part of the Temple Mount, a Jewish, Christian, and Islamic holy site in East Jerusalem. Nikolay Mladenov, the U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council that the latest events threatened to turn the decades-old political disagreement between Israeli and Palestinian leaders into a religious war. In addition to Mr. Mladenov’s remarks, this portion of the council’s meeting includes debate from the Palestinian, Israeli, and U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations. close