UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has criticized Israel for continuing to build settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories in West Bank.
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The UN Secretary-General had harsh words for both sides, calling out both states for inflammatory actions, including Israel’s ongoing efforts to expand Jewish settlements in the disputed West Bank.
Israel insists that an ongoing wave of violence seen since last October – in which more than 160 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces after alleged attacks or during protests – was the result of “incitement” on social media.
“Continued settlement activities are an affront to the Palestinian people and to the global community”, he said.
Nearly daily stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians have killed 25 Israelis and a US citizen.
“The current Israel government of [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes seven settlers, does not want peace or the implementation of signed agreements with the Palestinians”, Abbas charged.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addresses a United Nations Security Council meeting on …
Today, some 380,000 Israelis live in 135 West Bank settlements, with another 200,000 in east Jerusalem.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the council that the United States “strongly opposes settlement activity” but added that “settlement activity can never in itself be an excuse for violence”.
The envoy also called on the Security Council to seriously consider providing worldwide protection to the Palestinian people.
“It is time for the security council to reflect the expressed will of its members and the worldwide community it is mandated to represent”, the statement said.
The UN branded the Israeli settlement expansions as illegal, arguing that they are an attempt to undermine plans for a Palestinian state by absorbing land earmarked for the new country.
In a report it said was based on government data obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, the group said the housing ministry was seeking to build 55,548 units in the West Bank – including two new settlements – of which more than 8,300 homes would be in E1.
Some 13.5 million people were now in need of humanitarian assistance, 6 million of them children, she said, adding that humanitarian access to besieged areas remained “pitiful”.
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In response to Ban’s comments about the two-state solution, in which he voiced doubt about Israel’s commitment to the peace process, Lauder said: “The Palestinian Authority has demonstrated questionable commitment of its own to the two-state solution”.
