Ban Ki Moon ‘Ashamed’ Over Israel-Palestinian Peace Talks
KABUL: (MEP) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday he feels embarrassed and ashamed by the lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in an event organised by foreign affairs think-tank Chatham House in London.
“Basically it’s up to the leadership of Israel and the Palestinians to put an end to the conflict,” he said, adding that “I am not working for a particular country or a particular policy but for the people in the region.”
The UN chief drew the ire of Israeli leaders late last month for saying Palestinian knife attacks on Israeli troops are “human nature to react to occupation.”
The peace process has been deadlocked since a U.S. peace mission collapsed in April 2014.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led the angry attack, accusing Ban of “stoking terrorism” through those comments.
But Ban doubled down on his statement in a New York Times op-ed titled, “Don’t Shoot the Messenger, Israel.”
U.N. diplomats say Ban is hoping to get peace talks moving again before he steps down as secretary-general at the end of the year.
Violence is at a new high amid deadly confrontations between Israeli forces and the Palestinians almost on a daily basis. More than 170 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli troops since the beginning of last October.
