UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday flew to Jerusalem for talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders amid mounting international efforts to end weeks of escalating violence.
Ban’s visit came as a 50-year-old Israeli was reported to have died after being hit by a car during a stone-throwing incident near Hebron, Palestine.
Earlier, an Israeli soldier was hurt after reportedly being stabbed by a 23-year old Palestinian man, also near Hebron. His alleged attacker was shot dead.
Photo: Reuters
Calling for an end to violence that has claimed lives on both sides in recent weeks, Ban’s surprise visit came amid parallel efforts by US President Barack Obama’s administration and France to reduce tensions, in particular over the religious site known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Ban, whose trip was announced in Israel only hours before his arrival, was due to meet Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu last night and is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today in Ramallah.
His mediation efforts came amid reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry — who is to meet Netanyahu in Berlin tomorrow and Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman on Saturday — is pushing for a clarification of the so-called “status quo” at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount site via a written agreement and a complaint-resolution mechanism.
Kerry has said Israeli and Palestinian leaders need to clarify the status of the Jerusalem compound — which is home to the al-Aqsa mosque — to help stem the current bloodshed.
Before his visit, Ban said he understood Israeli anger.
“When children are afraid to go to school, when anyone on the street is a potential victim, security is rightly your immediate priority. But walls, checkpoints, harsh responses by the security forces and house demolitions cannot sustain the peace and safety that you need and must have,” he said on UN TV. “There is no so-called security solution.”
He told Palestinians: “I know your hopes for peace have been dashed countless times. You are angry at the continued occupation and the expansion of settlements.”
Responding again to claims that Israel has encroached on the “status quo,” Netanyahu yesterday told the World Zionist Congress meeting in Jerusalem that Israel had no intention of changing the situation.
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