UN chief urges more efforts from Israel to solve conflict with Palestinians

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday that security measures alone would not put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Currently on an official farewell visit to Israel, Ban made the comments at the beginning of his meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Ban mentioned increasing Palestinian rage over Israel's nearly 50 years of occupation, and concluded that the solutions need to be based "on mutual recognition of the legitimate claims of both people," according to the Ynet news website.

He is set to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as other Israeli and Palestinian security officials throughout Tuesday.

Netanyahu thanked Ban for his service and for his friendship with Israel, but criticize some UN bodies as biased, like the Human Rights Council, which has been slashing Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, according to a statement.

He also appreciated Ban's meeting with the families of two soldiers who were killed in the 2014 military campaign in Gaza and whose remains are held by Hamas.

Ban attacked Hamas for its "genocidal" intentions, and expressed his hope that the UN will take into consideration "Hamas's crimes."

Israel and Hamas, an Islamist movement governing the Gaza Strip since 2007, have fought several rounds of fighting in the enclave in the past nine years.

Ban's visit to Israel comes as the country is mired in a nine-month wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, claiming the lives of 32 Israelis and 206 Palestinians.

The Israeli government promoted several contentious measures, including military raids in the West Bank, demolition of homes of attackers, imposition of occasional closures and increased detentions for attackers, among others.

On Monday, Ban said that leaders on both sides need to take "concrete steps" in order to "restore hope and a political horizon so that Israeli and Palestinian people see a pathway to peace, not a quagmire."

He also suggested the Middle East Quartet, a forum constituting the UN, United State, Russia and the European Union, to be involved in the attempts to restart peace talks.

The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority ended without results in April 2014.

Amid the ongoing wave of violence and the standstill in the talks, several international initiatives are in place, calling for the resumption of peace talks.

Netanyahu is currently in Rome, where he met with U.S. Secretary John Kerry, to discuss the initiatives.

France offered its own initiative in January, calling to hold a peace conference in the country later this year, hoping it would kick-start negotiations.

While the Palestinians support the bid, Israel rejects it, claiming an international forum would enable Palestinians to avert direct negotiations and set up preconditions. Endit