© Reuters / Mohamad Torokman



The status of Jerusalem is vital for both Palestinians and the Israelis. Palestine sees East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian independent state, which would also include the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Meanwhile, Israel views the whole of Jerusalem as its undivided capital.

"Israel will settle its accounts with the murderers, with those who try murder and with those all those who assist them. Not only will we revoke rights from them; we will exact the full price,"

US Secretary of State John Kerry has linked the growing violence in Israel to "frustrations" amongst Palestinians, exasperated at the "massive increase in settlements" built by the Israeli government. "There's been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years," Kerry said during a visit to Harvard University,The US diplomat added thatand mentioned he will visit the region in the near future to try and calm the situation and"I will go there soon, at some point appropriately, and try to work to reengage and see if we can't move that away from this precipice," the Secretary of State said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has introduced ato try and quell the violence. During an emergency Security Council meeting which went on into the early hours of Wednesday morning, he announced thatThe police are "authorized to impose a closure on, or to surround, centers of friction and incitement in Jerusalem, in accordance with security considerations," a statement from the Prime Minister's Office read. The cabinet also authorizedmaking it harder for Palestinians living there to enter Israel. Unlike fellow Palestinians living the West Bank, those in Jerusalem do not face any restrictions when trying to enter Israeli territory.However, Human Rights Watch has hit out at the move, saying it will do nothing to improve the situation. "Locking down East Jerusalem neighborhoods will infringe upon the freedom of movement of all Palestinian residents rather than being a narrowly tailored response to a specific concern," the organization said in a statement.The Security Council gave the go-ahead for security forces toof Palestinian terrorists, as well asand theof East Jerusalem Arabs involved in attacks.Netanyahu told the Knesset, as cited by the Times of Israel.Mustafa Barghouti, of the Palestinian National Initiative told RT that the latest rise in violence is"This is a struggle of young Palestinian people against oppression and occupation. These are mostly independent young people who areThis maybe can be called the youth 'Palestinian spring' against occupation," he said.was announced by both Fatah and Hamas on Tuesday, leading to three Israeli deaths and around 30 injuries. A spate of stabbing incidents took place in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana. Two Palestinians shot and stabbed passengers on a bus in the Israeli capital, killing two and injuring four, police said. One of the assailants was killed and the other captured.Minutes later in Jerusalem, a Palestinian rammed his car into a bus stop in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of the city, police said. A surveillance video showed him then hacking pedestrians with a cleaver until he was shot dead by a passer-by. One of the Israelis he attacked died and six others were injured, police said.