Arab League condemns Israeli violence in Jerusalem, West Bank: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and representatives of other member states in the Arab league met in Cairo yesterday for talks on the escalating violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict, according to an Ittihadiya statement. The leaders reiterated the need to halt “unilateral” Israeli measures that they said undermine the two-state solution and the chances of achieving a just and comprehensive peace.

Jerusalem is “the backbone of the Palestinian cause,” El Sisi said at the meeting, joining King Abdullah II and other members in calling for a halt to any Israeli measures to change the status of the city’s holy sites. Jordan acts as the custodian of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam and a flashpoint for tensions in the conflict, which have risen in recent months following a series of provocative moves by Israel’s new far-right government. Egypt has met with regional leaders and Palestinian factions in recent weeks in efforts to broker a halt to the violence.