NEW YORK
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday voiced concern about the recent wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, calling on both sides to defuse tensions.
"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the upsurge in violence and killings over the past few days in Israel and the West Bank," his office said.
The statement came following recent attacks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and after Israeli authorities temporarily closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex after an extremist Jewish rabbi was injured in a drive-by shooting in West Jerusalem.
The mounting unrest led to a spate of attacks targeting Israeli settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent weeks. An Israeli girl was killed Monday when a Palestinian man stabbed three Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
"The Secretary-General calls on all sides to do everything they possibly can to avoid further exacerbating an already tense environment," the statement said. "His thoughts are with the families of the victims."
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews refer to the area as the Temple Mount, claiming it as the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
www.aa.com.tr/en
