“We call on all parties to exercise restraint and avoid provocative actions and rhetoric,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
“We call on Palestinians and Israeli officials to work cooperatively to reduce tensions and ensure everyone’s safety,” he added.
More than 150 Palestinians were injured Friday in clashes with the Israeli police in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, in the first confrontations of its kind since the start of the month of Ramadan.
The Temple Mount in the Old City of East Jerusalem is constantly witnessing clashes between the Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators.
These clashes came in light of severe tension that has been going on for three weeks, with violence in Israel and the West Bank coinciding with the Jewish and Christian Passover and Ramadan.