An emergency United Nations Security Council meeting Wednesday will address an escalating situation at Islam’s third-holiest site, the Al Aqsa Mosque. Frustrations and fears are growing that Israel could take over the compound. CCTV America’s Stephanie Freid reports.

Palestinians are fed up with Israeli occupation, and U.S.-fostered peace efforts that are at a dead end after nine months, and the continued settlement-building on Palestinian land.

The Al Aqsa Mosque, has become a flash-point of conflict as Israel’s government threatens to grab sovereignty over the compound, prompting international alarm.

A bid for unilaterally declared statehood via the U.N. bypasses negotiations with Israel and will be vetoed by the U.S. with near certainty.

But Palestinian leaders have another plan to sign onto hundreds of U.N. bodies, including the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute where membership provides a conduit for filing war-crimes charges against an Israeli government held in disdain by Palestinian leaders.

Even the United States, a staunch Israel ally, has said the status quo is untenable.