The UN secretary general has strongly criticised Israeli settlement-building in a series of pointed remarks made in Jerusalem and Ramallah in which he challenged Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, to show leadership and make compromises for peace.
Ban Ki-moon - who is on a two-day visit to the region - also called for an end to provocations at Jerusalem's holy sites which, have caused clashes in recent days.
Citing Israel's recent announcement on new settlement construction plans for east Jerusalem, Ban condemned the plans as a 'clear violation of international law'.
The relationship between Ban and Netanyahu has reportedly been difficult of late, with accounts of a terse exchange during a recent encounter in New York.
In a clear indication of his frustration over the issue of Israeli settlement-building Ban remarked: 'Turning to a subject I am very sorry to have to raise yet again - I am very concerned about the recent announcement of plans to advance settlements in east Jerusalem, which are in clear violation of international law.
'This does not send the right signal and I urge the government of Israel to reverse these activities.'
The Jerusalem municipality announced two weeks ago that it had approved plans for the construction of some 2,500 homes in Givat Hamatos, a development that would complete a band of Jewish housing in east Jerusalem and present another obstacle to the Palestinian goal of establishing a capital in the area - captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
Turning to the issue of recent clashes on Temple Mount, Ban added: 'As you mentioned this holy site in Jerusalem and as I also said this morning, I am deeply concerned by repeated provocations at the holy sites in Jerusalem. These only inflame tensions and must stop.'
Ban also urged Netanyahu to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
In a bleak assessment of the stalled process, Ban echoed the words of US secretary of state John Kerry, who called for reconstruction fo the Gaza Strip at the Cairo donor conference on Sunday. And he said: 'Time is not on the side of peace.'
He added: 'We need to act immediately to prevent a deepening of an already unsustainable status quo ... this is the only way to avoid yet another tragic conflict in the future.'
Netanyahu asked Ban to halt unilateral Palestinian moves at the UN towards statehood and criticised UN officials for returning rockets found in UN schools during the summer war to Hamas.
'A real peace can only be achieved through bilateral negotiations,' Netanyahu told Ban during a meeting in Jerusalem. 'I believe that unilateral steps by Palestinians at the United Nations will not advance peace. If the United Nations wants to a support a genuine reconciliation, it must avoid any steps that could undermine peace.
'The root cause of this summer's outburst of violence was Hamas' rocketing of Israeli cities, and these rocket attacks often exploited UN neutrality, using UN facilities and UN schools as part of the Hamas machine of terror.'
'And when rockets were discovered inside UN schools, some UN officials handed them back to Hamas - that very same Hamas that was rocketing Israeli cities and Israeli civilians.
Posted by Unknown on Monday, October 13, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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