MIDEAST-PALESTINIANS/ISRAEL-UN REACTION UN urges Israel not to further "inflame" tensions after synagogue attack

Record ID: 398785

  • Title: MIDEAST-PALESTINIANS/ISRAEL-UN REACTION UN urges Israel not to further "inflame" tensions after synagogue attack
  • Date: 18th November 2014
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (NOVEMBER 18, 2014) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS NEWS BRIEFING ONGOING JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS' SPOKESMAN, RUPERT COLVILLE, SAYING: "We're alarmed by the recent series of violent incidents in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Early this morning, as you're probably aware, a
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAAWQGPW43DYUR8XBZSJLBNXOOQ
  • Story Text: The United Nations human rights agency expressed shock after two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed four people in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday (November 18) before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city amid a surge in religious conflict.
    A worshipper at the morning service in the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of West Jerusalem said about 25 people were praying when shooting broke out.
    The synagogue attack came a day after a Palestinian bus driver was found hanged in his vehicle in Jerusalem. Israel said an autopsy showed he committed suicide, but his family said he was attacked.
    Violence in Jerusalem, areas of Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories has surged in the past month, fuelled in part by a dispute over Jerusalem's holiest shrine.
    Five Israelis and a foreign visitor have been deliberately run over and killed or stabbed to death by Palestinians. About a dozen Palestinians have also been killed, including those accused of carrying out those attacks.
    "We're alarmed by the recent series of violent incidents in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Early this morning, as you're probably aware, at least four Israelis were killed and eight others injured in an attack in a Jerusalem synagogue. On Sunday, a Palestinian bus driver was found hanged in his bus in Jerusalem in unclear circumstances, and at least six other people have been killed, including five Israelis and one Ecuadorian in the past month, in alleged attacks involving cars driven at people and knife attacks," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news conference in Geneva.
    Colville said the U.N. urged Israel to exercise restraint in the wake of the recent violence.
    "We condemn all acts of violence, which resulted in deaths and injuries. Israel has a duty to ensure law and order, including by bringing to justice those responsible for these attacks on civilians, but any response must be in accordance with international law. We urge Israeli authorities to refrain from taking measures such as punitive demolitions which violate international law and may further inflame the situation," he said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register