Ben Caspit writes, “In the previous two conflicts surrounding the Temple Mount, the US administration under President Barack Obama played a dramatic role in restoring calm…No one in Washington is being kept up to speed on the current state of affairs. Kerry has retired, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is more interested in Iran and the Persian Gulf. Furthermore, there is no way the Americans will so much as dip their finger into the powder keg atop the most important plateau in the world. Meanwhile, Israel, the Palestinians, the Waqf, Jordan, the Turks and the Salafis are all playing this dangerous game on their own, making the situation more perilous than ever.”

As tensions remained high in the occupied Palestinian territory, with Fatah leaders calling for a Day of Rage to protest Israeli restrictions at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem continued to organize sit-ins and perform prayers in the streets outside the holy site’s gates for the third day on Tuesday.

The Red Crescent said 16 Palestinians were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets, nine were wounded by shrapnel from stun grenades, and 25 sustained bruises after being beaten an kicked by Israeli forces.

By openly voicing his opposition to one of the most significant moves the United States and Russia have made in Syria in recent months, Netanyahu made public a major disagreement between Israel and the two great powers that had until now been kept under wraps and expressed only through quiet diplomatic channels.

“It will be complicated to move quickly with the American plan,” the sources quoted Netanyahu as saying. “I don’t know if Abbas can supply the goods because of his internal politics. But we will cooperate with Trump’s move. I want to see a parallel process with the Arab states alongside the process with the Palestinians. Not one at the expense of the other, or one before the other, but in tandem.”

Saudi King Salman has personally intervened in the Temple Mount crisis and passed on a message to Israel via Washington that the compound should be reopened to worshipers, Saudi news site Elaph reported on Tuesday.

D.C. Pence will be the first sitting vice president or president to speak to the Christian Zionist organization in its 11-year history. His speech marks a fundamental change in the language that the White House has historically employed to articulate the United States’ relationship with Israel.

“To the men and women of Christians United for Israel, this president hears you,” [Vice President Pence] said to cheers at the annual Christians United for Israel  conference in Washington, D.C. “This president stands with you. And I promise you that the day will come when President Donald Trump moves the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It is not a question of if, it is only when.”

The ever-growing housing demand in ultra-Orthodox communities has led to a paradox in which, today, the two largest settlements are made up of residents with generally minimal nationalistic fervor.

A number of settler organizations including a the Kfar Etzion Field School have for years been employed by the IDF to guide West Bank tours. Critics have challenged the bias of those educating new recruits, pointing out that many are active in the preservation and expansion of the politically-charged territory over the Green Line.