In recent weeks, an upsurge in violence in Jerusalem has brought the embattled city back into the headlines. According to Danny Seidemann, founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem and one of the leading experts on the city, this violence, boiling at a level unseen in Jerusalem since 1967, actually began over a year ago, and it is not just another spoke in the “cycle of violence.”

A video released Wednesday onto several social media accounts and published by several news outlets shows Israeli plainclothes undercover officers apparently shooting an unarmed Palestinian youth in the leg at point blank range, while other undercover officers hold him down.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made a public appeal for calm on Tuesday as a recent spike in deadly violence in East Jerusalem and the West Bank threaten to spiral into armed confrontation with Israel. “We want to reach a political solution peacefully, and no other solution,” said Abbas. “We want to minimize the risks of destruction and loss that will sprout on all sides in the current situation.”

Nir Barkat says that civilians with ‘operational combat experience’ can help foil terror attacks and increase residents’ confidence.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night ordered police to prevent Israeli ministers and members of Knesset from entering the Temple Mount, in a move seemingly aimed at reducing recent sky-high tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is working to prevent violence and terror attacks, according to an assessment by the IDF Intelligence Directorate, which emerged on Wednesday in the midst of a series of Palestinian terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank.

Clashes and killings in Jerusalem’s Old City have brought tensions to a boil in the divided city of Hebron.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Monday night’s cabinet meeting that he does not intend to approve further settlement construction in order not to harm talks with the United States about security understandings and upgrading the Israel Defense Forces’ capabilities following the nuclear deal with Iran.

The opposition chief said that the fatal stabbings in the Old City were only a matter of time given the tense atmosphere that took hold over the capital.

One way or the other, the right-wing demonstrators demand the immediate establishment of a new settlement in the territories as a response to the comings and goings of President Mahmoud Abbas and the violent “outbursts.”

HaBayit HaYehudi leader Naftali Bennett attacks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his reactions to the recent security escalation, demanding a firmer hand against terror.