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| Ban Ki-moon due in Jerusalem for talks as violence escalates | Ban Ki-moon due in Jerusalem for talks as violence escalates |
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| The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has flown to Jerusalem for talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders amid mounting international efforts to end weeks of escalating violence. | The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has flown to Jerusalem for talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders amid mounting international efforts to end weeks of escalating violence. |
| Tuesday’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. 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. | |
| 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 the Obama administration and France to reduce tensions, in particular over the flashpoint Jerusalem religious site known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount. | 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 the Obama administration and France to reduce tensions, in particular over the flashpoint Jerusalem religious site known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount. |
| Related: The terror in Jerusalem is based on a lie | Gilad Erdan | Related: The terror in Jerusalem is based on a lie | Gilad Erdan |
| Ban, whose trip was announced in Israel only hours before his expected arrival, was due to meet the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday evening and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Wednesday in Ramallah. | |
| His mediation efforts came amid reports that the US secretary of state, John Kerry – who will meet Netanyahu in Berlin on Thursday 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. | 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 … 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.” | 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 … 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 also 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.” | He also 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.” |
| The recent violence has been stoked partly by Palestinian anger at what they see as increased Jewish visits to the Jerusalem holy site, also revered in Judaism as the location of two destroyed biblical temples. | The recent violence has been stoked partly by Palestinian anger at what they see as increased Jewish visits to the Jerusalem holy site, also revered in Judaism as the location of two destroyed biblical temples. |
| Under longstanding arrangements, Islamic religious authorities administer al-Aqsa; Israel allows Jews to visit but not pray in the compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City that it captured, with other parts of east Jerusalem and the West Bank, in a 1967 war. | |
| Responding again to claims that Israel has encroached on the status quo, Netanyahu told the World Zionist Congress meeting in Jerusalem that Israel had no intention of changing the situation. | Responding again to claims that Israel has encroached on the status quo, Netanyahu told the World Zionist Congress meeting in Jerusalem that Israel had no intention of changing the situation. |
| “Israel has not and will not change the status quo. That is one huge lie,” said Netanyahu. However Muslim suspicions over Israel’s intentions were stoked by the recent visit of senior Israeli minister Uri Ariel and the decision by Israel to ban Islamic volunteer watch groups from gathering at the site. | |
| Eight Israelis have been killed in recent stabbings and shootings by Palestinian and Arab-Israeli attackers in Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank. An Eritrean, mistaken for an assailant during an Arab gunman’s assault, also died after being shot by a security guard and kicked by angry crowd. | |
| Israeli security forces have killed at least 42 Palestinians, including 20 assailants and demonstrators, one of whom, police said, fired a gun at them. Israeli security forces have been tasked with clamping down on unrest without provoking a further escalation of violence. | Israeli security forces have killed at least 42 Palestinians, including 20 assailants and demonstrators, one of whom, police said, fired a gun at them. Israeli security forces have been tasked with clamping down on unrest without provoking a further escalation of violence. |
| Checkpoints in Palestinian areas of annexed east Jerusalem, where many of the attackers have come from, and measures such as home demolitions have provoked further anger. | Checkpoints in Palestinian areas of annexed east Jerusalem, where many of the attackers have come from, and measures such as home demolitions have provoked further anger. |
| In an interview published on Tuesday in the pro-Netanyahu newspaper Israel Hayom, the Israeli leader – who has publicly said there was no “quick fix” to the worst Palestinian street violence in years – voiced confidence that the conflict would not widen. | |
| “Proper management has ensured that there will not be a mass conflagration in the name of religious war, including a flare-up in terms of missiles from Gaza and Lebanon,” said Netanyahu, who has been accused by some of his cabinet ministers of not doing enough to keep Israelis safe. | “Proper management has ensured that there will not be a mass conflagration in the name of religious war, including a flare-up in terms of missiles from Gaza and Lebanon,” said Netanyahu, who has been accused by some of his cabinet ministers of not doing enough to keep Israelis safe. |