A spokesman for Jordan’s mission to the United Nations says his country will request an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on behalf of the Palestinians, who have written to the council president about “dangerously escalating tensions” in east Jerusalem.

Laith Ibrahim Obeidat confirmed the request in a message Monday and said his country, a council member, will ask the council president to set a date.
A letter from Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour to the council president on Monday calls on the international community to demand that Israel “cease forthwith all of its illegal settlement activities” in east Jerusalem and elsewhere.

Israel’s prime minister pledged Monday to keep building in east Jerusalem, despite stiff international criticism and recent rising tensions between Jews and Arabs in the city. SAPA