America expresses “deep concern” about the clashes in Jerusalem and plans to expel Palestinian families

The White House said today, Sunday, that US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan expressed in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart his “deep concern” about the clashes that took place in Jerusalem in recent days.

“Mr. Sullivan also reiterated the deep concern of the United States about the possible expulsion of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood,” the White House added, in a reading of the transcript of the conversation between Sullivan and Israeli National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabat.

The White House said, “The two agreed that the rocket attacks and incendiary balloons (launched) from Gaza on Israel are unacceptable and should be condemned.

Tensions in East Jerusalem turned into clashes between the Israeli police and the Palestinians around Al-Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam, in the last ten days of Ramadan.

The disputes escalated in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and turned into night clashes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, a neighborhood where many Palestinian families face eviction.

King Abdullah, whose Hashemite family says it is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and derives its legitimacy from its role in tutelage, said that the Israeli actions in the holy city amount to an escalation and called on it to end its “dangerous provocations.”

King Abdullah accused Israel of trying to change the demographic status of the holy city, which contains sites sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. And official media said that Jordan summoned the Israeli charge d’affaires in Amman to express the kingdom’s condemnation of what it described as the Israeli attacks on worshipers.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that the kingdom, which lost East Jerusalem and the West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, would do its utmost to protect the rights of Palestinians in the face of property claims by Jewish settlers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “his country preserves the right to worship and will not tolerate riots in the compound that includes Al-Aqsa Mosque and which Jews revere as the Temple Mount.”

Earlier, Jordan presented the Palestinians with title deeds in Sheikh Jarrah that it says proves that the claims of Israeli settlers about the property are unfounded.

Several hundreds of Jordanians staged a protest near the fortified Israeli embassy in the capital, Amman, while dozens of riot police stood without interference, while dozens chanted “Death to Israel.”

The protesters called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the abolition of the unpopular peace treaty with Israel. Many citizens of Jordan are of Palestinian descent.