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UN chief calls Israeli, Palestinian leaders on Jerusalem synagogue attack

(Xinhua)    14:30, November 21, 2014
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UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 20  -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas separately by telephone on Thursday, saying that he was "shocked by the deadly attack on a synagogue in west Jerusalem."

"The secretary-general said he was extremely alarmed by the upsurge of violence in recent weeks," Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a readout note to the press here. "The dangerous downward spiral must urgently be reversed."

Ban, who was in Washington Thursday to chair a meeting of the United Nations Executives Board, "emphasized that at this delicate and dangerous juncture, courage and responsibility were required from both the president and the prime minister to take a stand that may be contrary to extremists in their own domestic constituencies," the spokesman said.

"The secretary-general said he hoped the recently announced confidence-building measures and firm commitments made by both sides at the meeting in Amman to maintain the status quo regarding the holy sites would be further translated into a de-escalation of tensions," Dujarric said. "Absent this, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may quickly morph into a religious conflict, over which the international community will have limited, if no, leverage."

The UN Security Council on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms the despicable Tuesday terrorist attack and encouraged both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to work together to "lower tension, reject violence, avoid all provocations and seek a path toward peace."

In the attack, two Palestinian men armed with a gun, knives and meat cleavers killed four rabbis and a police officer before being shot dead, reports said.

Tuesday's attack is another incident in a chain that have taken place in Jerusalem, as tensions between Jews and Arabs are mounting. On Sunday evening, a 32-year-old Jewish man was stabbed and moderately injured by an apparent Palestinian perpetrator.

Last week, two Israelis were killed in separate attacks in Tel Aviv and the West Bank, amid several other sporadic run-over attacks in Jerusalem as clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces continued there.

The tensions largely stem from the expansion of Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem, territories which were annexed by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War but were home to more than 300,000 Palestinians. Violence was also triggered during clashes over the status quo of al-Aqsa Mosque, or Temple Mount complex referred to by Jews, a holy site to both Jews and Muslims.

(Editor:Ma Xiaochun、Liang Jun)
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