News Brief

A Jerusalem company has revived plans it had just dropped to renovate a walkway near the Temple Mount. Ha’aretz reported that the Jewish Quarter Development Company, which owns the land under the Western Wall Plaza, announced Tuesday that it would stop rebuilding the pedestrian walkway leading from the plaza to the Temple Mount’s Mughrabi Gate. Israel’s Housing and Construction Ministry told Ha’aretz that the plan was canceled due to a misunderstanding with the municipality. However, the company later reversed its decision under pressure from the ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Jerusalem municipality and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. The Mughrabi ramp collapsed in 2004 due to bad weather. Recent rioting by Palestinians and other Muslims was sparked by Arab allegations that the Israeli project aimed to undermine the foundations of two major Muslim shrines on the Temple Mount, a charge Muslim leaders frequently use to incite their public against Israel.

Israeli and Lebanese troops both violated the cease-fire between the two countries last week, according to a U.N. report. Reuters quoted envoy Alvaro de Soto on Tuesday as telling the U.N. Security Council that Israeli troops crossed the border to search for mines and Lebanese troops fired on Israeli soldiers while they were in their own territory. Israel maintains it crossed a fence that is on the Israeli side of the border. The Lebanese army’s fire, and Israel’s return of fire, was the first such incident since the cease-fire last August and was a mutual violation of it, de Soto said.