UN Chief Ban Ki Moon urges Israel and Palestine to keep restrain
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JERUSALEM: The visit comes amid unrest that erupted a month ago over tensions surrounding a Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims. It soon spread to Arab neighbour hoods of east Jerusalem and then to the West Bank, Gaza and Israel. A spate of Palestinian attacks, most of which have involved stabbings, has caused panic across Israel and raised fears that the region is on the cusp of a new round of bloodshed. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned Israelis and Palestinians they are at a dangerous abyss and must act quickly to calm nearly three weeks of unrest before it spirals further out of control. He called for calm during a press conference with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and said "no society should live in fear." As he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ban also spoke of the danger of allowing an escalation into a religious conflict with potential regional implications and urged efforts to ensure that did not occur. Violent protests and a wave of Palestinian gun, knife and car-ramming attacks against Israelis have raised fears of a full-scale Palestinian uprising. Even as Ban visited, another stabbing and a car attack occurred in the occupied West Bank, wounding three Israelis. Both alleged attackers were shot dead. And after his remarks, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians in a stabbing attack on their post in Hebron in which one soldier was slightly wounded. We must, for the future of our children, come back from this dangerous abyss, safeguard the two-state solution, and lead people back to the road toward peace.
