Turkey- Kerry calls for end to 'senseless39 Al Aqsa violence

10/20/2015 4:17:57 AM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Israel and Palestine should act to end the “senseless” violence in the region U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday.

“We continue to urge everybody to exercise restraint and restrain from any kind of self-help in terms of the violence” he said in a joint news conference with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel GarciaMargallo in Madrid.

Kerry called for leaders to clarify the status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound which is referred asTemple Mount byJews.Rumorsthat Israel aims to gain administrative control of the site which is sacred to both Muslims and Jewshave provoked a recent outbreak of violence that has seen dozens killed.

“Israel has made it clear to me that they do not intend to and have not changed the status quo” Kerry told reporters.

He also rejected France’s proposal for international observers at the site to ensure the status quo saying neither Israel nor King Abdullahof Jordan want “outsiders” involved.

Later this week Kerry will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah. He also plans to meet representatives of Russia Saudi Arabia and Turkey to discuss the Syrian crisis in an effort to find a political solution to the conflict.

“I don’t enter this discussion with a specific expectation except to try to understand better for all of us what our options are and how we may be able to proceed forward” he said.

Kerry is on his first official visit to Spain where he will also meet with the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy main opposition leader Pedro Sanchez and King Felipe VI.

On Monday Kerry also signed an agreement to finalize a deal for the clean-up a region of Spain that is still polluted after a U.S. nuclearincident almost 50 years ago.

In January 1966 two American warplanes collided over the Spanish coastal area of Palomares Almeria.

Four nuclear bombs fell to the ground and although none detonated radioactive material was scattered over two square kilometers (200 hectares).Kerry has agreed the U.S. will take plutonium-laced soil to a storage facility in the U.S.

Kerry also voiced his support for a “strong and united Spain” following a recent vote that could see Catalonia achieve independence.
By Alyssa McMurtry

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