Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu is protecting the Islamic State militant group, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday.
"The Islamic State is protected by Netanyahu, while we are seeking peace," Abbas told media in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
He was addressing a joint press conference with United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.
"We oppose IS, Al-Qaeda and settlements [in the West Bank and Jerusalem]," Abbas said.
Violence between Palestinians and Jews has spiralled since clashes erupted at the flashpoint Jerusalem Al-Aqsa mosque holy site in mid-September, with a wave of stabbings and gun attacks on Israelis by Palestinians since early October, and one apparent revenge stabbing by an Israeli.
Palestinian Authority foreign minister Riad Malki reportedly told the PA’s Voice of Palestine radio Wednesday he planned to meet with the prosecutor-general of the International Criminal Court later this month to give her a report about alleged Israeli “field executions” of Palestinians in recent weeks.
Netanyahu on Tuesday blamed Abbas for the current upsurge of violence, accusing him of "joining Hamas and IS in claiming that Israel is threatening the Al-Aqsa Mosque".
This is a “total lie," Netanyahu told Ban.
The fresh violence was fuelled by rumours among Palestinians that Israel was attempting to alter a long-standing religious arrangement governing the site - claims repeatedly denied by Israel.
