LIVE BLOG: Tensions rising in Jerusalem and the West Bank

Here is a summary of Thursday’s events so far. We're signing off for now.

• Thee Israeli soldiers were injured after a car drove into a checkpoint in the Gush Etzion settlements in the West Bank late on Wednesday.  
• Israeli authorities have since suggested that the incident was an accident
• Far-right Israeli activists are set to march on the al-Aqsa compound/Temple Mount at 5:00pm GMT.
• Jerusalem police report 16 suspects arrested for "rioting" on Wednesday.
• Jordan appeals to the UN to prevent further damaging incursions into the al-Aqsa compound

After questioning the suspect in the Gush Etzion car incident, Israeli security services now believe it was just an accident, according to Israeli army radio.

A report in Hebrew-language Haaretz has quoted the Jerusalem police commissioner saying that "the escalation of violence in Jerusalem cannot be solved by force."

According to the police, the provocation on the Temple Mount is the central cause of violence in Jerusalem.  The Police Commissioner, Yohanan Danino, has called upon the Prime Minister to tone down the Knesset Members’ remarks regarding the Temple Mount and to prevent entrance to it.  

The police cautioned the government about the entrance of Knesset Members to the Temple Mount and about irresponsible remarks made by public figures that are likely to lead to an escalation of violence.

Ward Kayyal, a 19-year-old local Palestinian organiser, was arrested from his Haifa home roughly a half hour after announcing on Facebook a protest for Thursday night in Haifa, according to local activists, The demonstration is scheduled for 7:00 pm and will be held in solidarity with Palestinians in Jerusalem.

The Walla news site is reporting that a suspect in Wednesday night's car attack in Gush Etzion in the West Bank has been arrested.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organisation that monitors antisemitism globally, has released a statement condemning the car attack in Jerusalem and calling on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to do more to prevent further violence.

"We strongly condemn this terror attack in Jerusalem, in what appears to be another effort by extremists to further inflame tensions across the city," ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said in the statement.

"President Abbas must quickly and unequivocally condemn this senseless act of violence, which is something he has failed to do following previous terror attacks in recent weeks, and refrain from using these events to further inflame tensions between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem," he said.

"Silence from President Abbas on these incidents suggests an indifference to Palestinian terrorist activity directed at Israel, and raises questions about his commitment towards achieving a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Palestinian cartoonists have dubbed the new tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank a "car intifada" and numerous satirical and propagandistic illustrations have been produced:

"Run over"

"Soon, there will be a R160 bus" (M75 and R160 refer to Hamas rockets)

"Car intifada"

"Object – even with your car"

The Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has released a statement on the continuing violence in Jerusalem.

Abu Ahmad Fuad, Deputy General Secretary of the PFLP, is quoted as saying “our people will not be suppressed, not in Gaza, nor in the West Bank, not in occupied Palestine ’48, nor in the diaspora, nor in Jerusalem, where there a great popular uprising has been ignited.”

The statement praised the actions of first car attacker Ibraham Al-Akri and called for "support for the popular intifada in Jerusalem, strengthening and widening the uprising in the towns and the streets of Jerusalem.”

It also quotes PFLP member and writer Khaled Barakat saying “Israel is committing war crimes and attempting a social and cultural genocide against our people in Jerusalem."

“We must be prepared, and we must organize to make November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, a day and a week of action internationally in solidarity with the Palestinian people’s struggle for return and liberation, and to defend Jerusalem and Palestine. And the weeks leading up to November 29 must also be weeks of mobilization and support for our people on the front lines in Jerusalem.”

Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has accused right-wing Israeli politicians of seeking "cheap headlines" over visits to the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa compound.

"I think that it is stupid,” he said, referring to visits by the likes of Likud MK Moshe Feiglin as “provocations.”

“I think it’s the pursuit of cheap and easy publicity and a somewhat cynical exploitation of the complicated political situation - and let’s say it this way: it’s a lack of wisdom" on the part of those politicians.

“Increasing the friction won’t bring security; it won’t bring anything,” he told Israel Radio.