(VOVworld) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of attempting to start a religious war by allowing Jewish worshippers to visit and pray at the disputed Al Aqsa Mosque.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks beneath a poster of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at a rally marking the 10th anniversary of Arafat’s death, in the West Bank city of Ramallah November 11, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

Speaking in front of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank, he said that Israel had been trying to divide Jerusalem, which, Abbas said, was the Palestinian capital and that they would not concede. Violence in Jerusalem escalated after a number of Israeli ministers and parliamentarians asked the government to stop banning Jews from praying at the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is a venerated site in both Islam and Judaism.