The United Nations has expressed deep concern over the escalating violence and tensions in the occupied West Bank. This announcement was made by the spokesperson of the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, during a press conference held at the UN headquarters in New York. The international organization called on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides to take necessary steps to return to the negotiation table.
Dujarric stated, "We are extremely concerned about the rise in violence and severe tension in the occupied West Bank, including the incidents that have occurred in the past few days." He added, "Among those incidents is the killing of a Palestinian journalist by Israeli forces."
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that the young journalist Ghofran Wrasneh was martyred after being shot by occupation soldiers near the al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed in the last three days to three.
Dujarric confirmed that "Secretary-General António Guterres urges both sides to remain calm and take actions that would bring us back to the negotiation table." Peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis have been stalled since April 2014, due to several reasons, including Israel's refusal to halt settlement expansion and release long-held prisoners.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas clarified during a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership is preparing to take actions in response to the Israeli escalation, given the international community's failure to compel Israel to comply with international law and halt its practices, amid U.S. silence on these actions.
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" reiterated on Tuesday its position of refusing to pledge to mediators not to escalate the situation on the ground, in light of what it described as "continued violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem."
