Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said today he wanted to avoid a violent escalation with Israel, his most direct comments since unrest has spread in recent days and provoked fears of a new uprising.
His comments came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a crackdown and Israel, in a show of force, demolished the homes of two Palestinians who carried out attacks last year.
More clashes also erupted Tuesday, including in Bethlehem following the funeral of a 13-year-old killed by Israeli soldiers during rioting outside the city.
"We don't want a military and security escalation with Israel," Abbas said at a meeting of Palestinian officials, according to official news agency Wafa.
"We are telling our security forces, our political movements, that we do not want an escalation, but that we want to protect ourselves."
Abbas's intentions were unclear before his recent comments, particularly following his UN General Assembly speech last week, in which he declared he was no longer bound by accords with Israel.
But the question remains of whether Palestinian youths frustrated with both Abbas's leadership and Israel's right-wing government will listen to his appeals.
Today's demolitions came with Netanyahu under increasing pressure from right-wing members of his coalition, which holds only a one-seat parliamentary majority, as clashes have spread following the murder of four Israelis.
The spike in violence has brought international calls for calm, with concerns the unrest could spin out of control and memories of previous Palestinian uprisings still fresh.
The houses destroyed were the former homes of Ghassan Abu Jamal and Mohammed Jaabis, the military said. They were placed under demolition orders after the men attacked Israelis last year.
Armed with meat cleavers and a pistol, Abu Jamal and his cousin Uday Abu Jamal killed four rabbis and a policeman before being shot dead in November 2014.
Jaabis rammed an earthmover into a bus in August 2014, killing an Israeli and wounding several others before he was shot dead by police.
An AFP journalist saw the gutted inside of a house in east Jerusalem that witnesses said was the former residence of Abu Jamal.
Yasser Abdu, 40, a neighbour and friend of the Abu Jamals, accused Israel of a "policy of collective punishment.
