As Prime Minister Yair Lapid met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss escalating violence emanating from the West Bank Tuesday, the two received an unfortunate reminder of the urgency of efforts to calm tensions.
Half the world away, in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, an 84-year-old woman had been walking down the street when she was beaten to death with a blunt object.
As Lapid and Abdullah met, The Times of Israel has learned, the Israeli premier received word that authorities investigating the killing suspected it had been a terror attack, with a manhunt underway for a Palestinian thought to be responsible for the attack.
“Israel will not stand by, and will fight all forms of terror directed at Israel, and will not allow harm to the security of its citizens,” Lapid told Abdullah during the meeting, according to a readout from Lapid’s office.
The meeting, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, came against the backdrop of what Israeli officials have described as an uptick in Palestinian terror activity. The potential for further attacks is especially high with the Jewish High Holidays beginning next week, authorities have warned.
Abdullah told Lapid that achieving security and stability was tied to creating a political horizon for the Palestinians on the basis of a two-state solution.
“The King reiterated the importance of granting the Palestinians their just and legitimate rights, and including them in regional economic development,” a statement carried by Jordan’s official news service read.
Underlining lingering tensions between the neighbors, though, Abdullah warned in his address to the United Nations General Assembly against “undermining” the status quo in Jerusalem. The speech came shortly before his meeting with Lapid.
Jordan sees itself as the custodian of Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites, including the Temple Mount complex which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a focal point of tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel rejects this assertion, recognizing only the Hashemite kingdom’s unique role on the Temple Mount.
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