NEW YORK, December 17, 2015 (WAFA) –
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, in a message delivered on
his behalf to a conference on the “Rights of the Palestinian people”, that the
recent attacks by Palestinians against Israelis are “bred from nearly five
decades of Israeli occupation.”
“It is the result of fear, humiliation,
frustration and mistrust,” said Ban in his message, which was delivered to the
conference on Tuesday.
“It has been fed by the wounds of
decades of bloody conflict, which will take a long time to heal. Palestinian
youth in particular are tired of broken promises and they see no light at the
end of the tunnel.”
Ban also blamed Israel’s settlement
activities in the occupied territories for the deterioration of the situation
in the region.
He said that despite several
reaffirmations by the Israeli government that it does not intend to change the
status quo at al-Aqsa Mosque compound, “any action which could be interpreted
as attempting to change the delicate balance, and particularly the status quo
of the holy sites, carries with it the risk of conflict.”
Ban stressed the “urgent need for
leaders to rein in incitement” and called on Israeli security forces to “ensure
a calibrated use of force in response to incidents.”
During the conference, Shawan Jabarin,
director-general of Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, accused Israel of
conducting ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Jerusalem.
The conference was held by the UN
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on the Question of Jerusalem.
M.N/M.H
