UN Urges Restraint After Death of Palestinian Minister at West Bank Protest

UNITED NATIONS, December 13 (Sputnik) — The UN Security Council has called on Israelis and Palestinians to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation following the death of Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein at a protest in the West Bank.

"The Members of the Security Council called on all sides to exercise maximum restraint and to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the situation," said the official statement released late Friday.

The Security Council urged authorities to conduct a swift and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the death and “took note of the willingness of the Government of Israel to conduct a joint investigation into the incident.”

Earlier on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein expressed his condolences to the family of Ziad Abu Ein, saying that his death on Human Rights Day is "a terrible and deeply tragic irony".

Ziad Abu Ein, head of the Palestinian Authority committee against the separation wall and settlements, died after Palestinian protesters clashed with the Israeli military on Wednesday. According to local media, an Israeli soldier hit the official in the chest with a helmet during an olive-tree planting protest in the occupied West Bank village of Turmusiya (Turmus'aya) near Ramallah.

Palestinians want to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, partially occupied by Israel, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and want Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it took after the Six-Day War in 1967.

In October, Palestinians worked out a draft UN Security Council resolution that defines strict time limits for Israel to end its occupation and remove its settlements before November 2016.