Mourners carry the body of 21-year-old Palestinian Dia al-Talahmeh during his funeral in Khursa, near the West Bank village of Dura, yesterday.

Agencies
Jerusalem


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned yesterday that there was a risk of a new Palestinian Intifada erupting if violence at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem did not ease and peace talks with Israel did not resume.
Israeli-Palestinian strife has risen sharply in recent weeks as Arab states and Palestinians have accused Israeli forces of violations at the Al Aqsa mosque.
“We spoke about what’s happening at Al Aqsa,” Abbas told a news conference after meeting French President Francois Hollande. “It’s extremely dangerous. We don’t want it to continue and (if it did) the alternative would be chaos or an Intifada (uprising) that we don’t want.”
Abbas called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order an end to Israeli actions in Jerusalem’s Old City where Al Aqsa is located, stop continued settlement activity in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and return to the negotiating table.
“We consider the only way to reach peace is through negotiations,” he said. The talks collapsed in April 2014.
Hollande urged calm in Jerusalem and said the 1967 “status quo”, which meant access for Palestinians to Al Aqsa, could not be put into question.
A poll out this week showed 57% of Palestinians support a return to an armed Intifada in the absence of peace negotiations, up from 49% three months ago.
Poll organisers said the figure was similar to numbers seen ahead of the second Palestinian Intifada in 2000.
Jerusalem was calm yesterday but under tight security, with thousands of police officers deployed and authorities closing off the city to residents of the occupied West Bank.
Unrest however hit the flashpoint Hebron area in the southern West Bank, with Israeli forces shooting a Palestinian woman who allegedly tried to stab a soldier. The 18-year-old later died from her wounds, her father said.
Overnight in the village of Dura near Hebron, another Palestinian was killed by an explosive device he intended to toss at a military vehicle, an Israeli military spokeswoman said. Residents provided a similar account.
Palestinian security officials however said he was shot dead by Israeli troops and named him as Dia al-Talahmeh, 21.
Hundreds later gathered for his funeral in the village while declaring him a “martyr,” with his body wrapped in a flag for militant group Islamic Jihad.
“I am very proud of my son. I hope out of every Palestinian house, a martyr will emerge,” said his mother, who declined to provide her name.
The army spokeswoman said a patrol had been deployed to clear stones blocking a road outside Hebron when the incident occurred.
“The soldiers heard an explosion and during a search of the sector they found the body of a Palestinian killed by the explosive device he intended to throw at one of our vehicles,” she said.
Tensions have been running high ahead of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday which began at sundown yesterday.
The Eid al-Adha holiday begins this evening and continues until Sunday.
Israel has deployed thousands of police in Jerusalem and shut it off from the West Bank, with checkpoints closed for the holiday as in previous years.
There were also age restrictions on Muslims entering the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, with men under 40 prohibited. Israeli authorities implement such age restrictions when tensions are high in a bid to avoid violence.
Last week’s clashes occurred as Jews celebrated their New Year, or Rosh Hashanah.
Police said they raided the Al Aqsa compound to stop youths who had barricaded themselves inside the mosque from disrupting visits by Jews and tourists.
Clashes broke out during the raids, with protesters throwing fireworks, stones and other objects at police, who fired stun grenades.