Palestinian backers and Israel at odds over holy site visit

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinians and many Muslim and non-Muslim supporters sharply disagreed with Israel over the visit of an ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet minister to a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. The Palestinians warned it could lead to another deadly uprising, while Israel dismissed it as “a trivial matter” and “non-event.” The Palestinian U.N. ambassador, Riyad Mansour, said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir didn’t go to visit the site, “but to pursue his extremist view, to end the historic status quo” under which Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan criticized the emergency meeting, saying Ben-Gvir’s visit followed the status quo and his right as a Jew.