Netanyahu accuses Ban Ki-moon of encouraging terror

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of encouraging "terror" by suggesting that alleged knife attacks by Palestinian youth were a natural reaction to Israel's heavy-handed occupation.

"The U.N. lost its neutrality and moral force a long time ago and the secretary-general's remarks do not improve the situation," Netanyahu said on Tuesday. "The Palestinian murderers do not want to build a state, they want to destroy a state," he added.

Israel insists that an ongoing wave of violence seen since last October in which more than 160 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli security forces after alleged attacks or during protests was the result of "incitement" on social media. Over the same period, 30 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in the violence.

Ban spoke after Israel approved plans to build 153 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, which the Peace Now group said was the first construction project approved in the last 18 months. Last week, Israel declared 370 acres in the West Bank south of Jericho to be state land.

Ban, for his part, speaking at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, attributed the violence to mounting Palestinian frustration and a stalled peace process. Israel's continued building of settlements and demolition of Palestinians' homes are "provocative acts," Ban said, warning that such actions can fuel animosity and undermine a political solution. "It is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism," he said.

Ban's comments were welcomed by Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), who called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its occupation. "Israel must be held to account for its actions if the international community wants to preserve the two-state solution [based on] on the 1967 borders," he said. "[Israel] carries out a plan to destroy the two-state option and replace it with a country with two systems of apartheid," Erekat added.

In recent months, Israel has become enmeshed in a growing war of words with the international community, which has recently stepped up criticism of Israeli policies vis-a-vis Palestinians and settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Last week, Israeli officials slammed U.S. ambassador to Tel Aviv Daniel Shapiro for accusing Israel of employing a "two-tier" legal system.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom also drew Israeli ire earlier this month after calling for an investigation into whether alleged Palestinian attackers had been victims of extrajudicial murder by Israeli security forces. The biggest falling out, however, has been that between Israel and the EU after the latter approved new rules for designating imported goods produced in illegal West Bank settlements.

Last week, EU foreign ministers ratified a resolution approving the new rules and deeming ongoing Israeli settlement activity on confiscated Palestinian land as illegal. Israel responded by threatening to bar the EU from playing a role in the stalled peace process.