East Jerusalem

The UN Security Council on Tuesday expressed sadness over the recent deaths of civilians in violence in the occupied West Bank and urged all parties to "refrain from unilateral actions that further inflame tensions."

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a strong condemnation on June 26, expressing its deep concern over the Israeli government's recent approval of the construction of approximately 5,700 new residential units in the occupied West Bank.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has condemned Israeli authorities for their decision to speed up illegal settlement activities and plan new constructions in West Bank.

Greece's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday issued a statement expressing its "deep concern" over recent developments in the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem after Israeli forces started bulldozing a 5,000 square meter plot of land owned by the Greek Orthodox Church.

Israeli and Palestinian envoys to the United Nations on Thursday traded heated barbs at a Security Council meeting over the controversial visit by an Israeli minister to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called the session "pathetic" and "absurd" while the Palestinian envoy accused the Jewish state of acting "with absolute contempt."

Israel condemned Norway's decision to label products from Israeli settlements with their place of origin.    

A statement from Israel's foreign ministry said the position "will adversely affect bilateral relations between Israel and Norway, as well as Norway's relevance to promoting relations between Israel and the Palestinians".    

Jerusalem is bracing for a controversial "flag march" by Israelis on Sunday that has sparked warnings of a new escalation from Palestinian factions.

The "March of the Flags" threatens to exacerbate weeks of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and comes as Israel marks "Jerusalem Day", commemorating the city's unification following the capture of east Jerusalem in 1967.

Two Palestinians, one a teenager, were killed in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, hours after police apprehended two Palestinian men suspected of killing three Israelis last week.

As the deadline established by the Washington agreement for Serbia to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem expired on Thursday, Serbia's head of state expressed uncertainty over the commitment.

Scores of Israeli settlers forced their way into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on May 23, according to a Palestinian agency.

In a statement, the Jordan-run Islamic Waqf Department, which oversees the holy sites in Jerusalem, said 127 settlers entered the complex under police protection for the first time in three weeks.