JERUSALEM, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The Israeli Cabinet approved a law Monday increasing punishment for rock-throwers, as tensions at Jerusalem's Temple Mount increased over the weekend.
The Cabinet measure calls for prison terms of up to 20 years for those convicted of throwing rocks at vehicles, and it's predicated by recent anti-Israel demonstrations at a religious site considered holy by Jews, Muslims and Christians. Predictions that a protest Sunday would erupt into a Palestinian intifada, or uprising -- the first in 10 years -- were discouraged by heavy rains and a large Israeli police presence at the temple mount.