The head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service says Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is not stoking the fires of terrorism, contradicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  And Yoram Cohen is warns that changing the status quo at the Temple Mount, which is considered holy by both Jews and Muslims, could deepen a religious war.

This comes after two Palestinian attackers stormed a synagogue in West Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood on Tuesday morning, and killed four rabbis, and wounded at least six more people.  Three of the dead were American immigrants to Israel.  The fourth was a rabbi born in Britain.  Police then shot and killed the assailants inside the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue.

“The Palestinian presidency has always condemned the killing of civilians on both sides, and condemns today the killing of worshipers in a house of worship in West Jerusalem,” went the statement from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also referred to as Abu Mazen.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to respond with a “heavy hand”.  He’s already ordered the homes of the two assailants be destroyed, and blamed both major Palestinian factions.

“This is the direct result of the incitement being led by Hamas and Abu Mazen, incitement which the international community is irresponsibly ignoring,” Netanyahu said after the attacks, blaming Palestinian incitement for fueling the passions with incendiary and even anti-Semitic rhetoric.

But Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen told a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Netanyahu is wrong, and Abbas is not interested in fanning the flames of violence against Israel.

“Abu Mazen [Abbas] is not interested in terror and is not leading towards terror,” Cohen told the MKs.  “He is also not doing that under the table.”

These attacks on mosques and synagogues show the increasingly religious nature of the conflict.  And it comes from the turf battles at the Temple Mount – the holiest site to Jews, and the third-holiest site to Muslims who call it the al Aqsa compound.  Israel has repeatedly closed the compound to Muslim men under the age of 40 or 50, even as it has allowed right-wing Jewish politicians and activists to visit.  Palestinian leaders condemn that as a “provocation”.

But if you ask the average Palestinian, they’ll point to much more immediate concerns.  Three-quarters of Arab residents of Jerusalem live under the poverty line, and schools and water are in short supply in Arab neighborhoods.  The infrastructure is shot and roads are in poor condition.  Israeli security crackdowns usually result in Palestinian youths being detained.

“I can say with full confidence, what is happening in Jerusalem today and the last week’s serious episodes has nothing to do with Fatah, Ramallah, or Hamas in Gaza, or any outside injection or component or influence,” says Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, founder of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs.