In a statement delivered at a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jakarta, Indonesia on March 6, 2016, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rationalized - and thereby encouraged - Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis as due to Palestinian "hopelessness." Despite the near daily stabbing, shooting, and car ramming attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, the Secretary General said Israel - not the Palestinian Authority - was responsible to end incitement and attacks against civilians.
In the Secretary-General's words: "the current spiral of violence in Palestine and Israel cannot be reversed by security means alone... Palestinians - particularly youth - are losing hope ... and many feel an overwhelming sense of hopelessness at their inability to end the occupation that continues to drain their lives of opportunity... We have collectively called for significant policy shifts by Israel... We have voiced our serious concern that current trends on the ground - including continued acts of violence against civilians, incitement, ongoing settlement activity, and the high rate of demolitions of Palestinian structures are dangerously imperilling the viability of a two-State solution. "