Israel UN envoy denounces Palestinian anti-Israel incitement
By Barak Ravid, Natasha Mozgovaya and Shlomo Shamir
April 8, 2010
Haaretz
Original Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1161734.html
 
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations blasted Thursdays a Palestinian Authority decision to name the street planned to house the future Palestinian Presidential compound after a Hamas terror mastermind. 
In her condemnation submitted to the UN, Gabriela Shalev said that the naming of a Ramallah street for infamous Hamas strongman Yihyeh Ayyash was "an outrageous act which stands contrary to the spirit of the peace process." 
Yihyeh Ayyash, also known as the "engineer," for whom the Ramallah street was named, was the architect of multiple attacks, including a 1994 bombing of a Tel Aviv bus, which killed 20 people, and injured dozens. 
Ayyash was killed in 1996 in what was most likely an Israeli assassination, after his cell phone exploded in his Beit Lahia home, in the Gaza Strip. 
Shalev's comments came after the U.S. strongly condemned what it called the glorification of terrorists by the PA earlier Thursday, urging Palestinian leaders to curb incitement against Israel. 
Speaking to reportes, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley t addressed both the recently uncovered naming of a Ramallah street after the Hamas suicide bombings mastermind Yihyeh Ayyash, as well as to statements made by PA officials, condemning the refurbishing of an ancient synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City. 
"We also strongly condemn the glorification of terrorists," Crowley said, adding that "honoring terrorists who have murdered innocent civilians, either by official statements or by the dedication of public places, hurts peace efforts and must end." 
The State Department official also added that the U.S. would " continue to hold Palestinian leaders accountable for incitement." 
Crowley also addressed comments made by PA officials in the wake of the rededication of the Hurva synagogue in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter. 
Last month Palestinians rioted in Jerusalem as part of a "day of rage" declared by Hamas, also protesting the rededication of the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. 
Fatah official Khatem Abd el-Kader, called Palestinians to "converge on al Aksa to save it" from "Israeli attempts to destroy the mosque and replace it with the [Jewish] temple," calling the synagogue's rededication a "provocation," adding that Israel is "playing with fire." 
In his statement Thursday, Crowley said that the U.S. was "disturbed by comments of Palestinian Authority officials regarding reconstruction and refurbishing of Jewish sites in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's Old City."