Israeli clerics and ex-president pray for end to violence

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Former Israeli President Shimon Peres has brought Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders together in Tel Aviv to jointly appeal for peace amid surging violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Earlier Tuesday, a pair of stabbing and shooting attacks in Jerusalem killed three Israelis. Some eight Israelis and 27 Palestinians have been killed in a month of Israeli-Palestinian unrest.

The religious leaders embraced before they made a united call for peace. Peres said they came together “to pray to the Lord to stop the bloodshed.”

Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, ended a seven-year term as president last year, but he remains a respected figure who often comments on events in Israel.