Ban in surprise visit to calm Israel-Palestinian ‘violence’ – UN’s top rights body to host Abbas next week

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JERUSALEM, Oct 20, (AFP): UN chief Ban Ki-moon was to make an unannounced visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories Tuesday to try to calm nearly three weeks of violence, even as a new stabbing wounded a soldier. Young Palestinians have defied an Israeli security crackdown and calls for nonviolence from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to carry out repeated knife and other attacks on Jews.

There have also been violent protests across the Palestinian territories. International concern has mounted, with US Secretary of State John Kerry due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Germany this week and Abbas later at an unspecified location in the Middle East.

In the latest incident on Tuesday, an Israeli soldier was stabbed during clashes near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron and the alleged 23-year-old Palestinian assailant shot dead. The stabbing occurred around Beit Awwa in the southern West Bank. Clashes had also erupted in Hebron earlier in the day as Israeli troops destroyed the home of a Palestinian jailed for a deadly knife attack last year. The demolition occurred as Israel took further steps in its bid to deter violence and tamp down what it sees as incitement, also arresting a senior Hamas official.

Last week, the Israeli government ordered an intensification of punitive home demolitions in response to the wave of unrest. It says the controversial policy acts as a deterrent but critics say the main victims of such demolitions are relatives forced to pay for another person’s actions. Ahead of his visit on Tuesday, Ban said he understood Israelis’ anger at attacks, “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 that “I know your hopes for peace have been dashed countless times. You are angry at the continued occupation and the expansion of settlements.” Ban however urged a “peaceful voice for change.” The UN chief was expected to meet Netanyahu, who has had an antagonistic relationship with United Nations officials, later on Tuesday and Abbas on Wednesday morning.

At least 42 Palestinians have been killed in the upsurge in violence that began at the start of the month, including alleged attackers. Eight Israelis have died in attacks. Israeli security forces have found themselves seeking to clamp down on unrest while not provoking a further escalation of violence. But 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. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will next week address the United Nations’ top human rights body, the UN said Tuesday, as a wave of violence in Israel continues despite international calls for calm.

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