UN chief pushes Palestinians to calm spiralling unrest

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council he was "not optimistic" following his talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, appealing for calm after three weeks of deadly unrest.Ban travelled to the region this week to urge the Israelis and Palestinians to pull back from a "dangerous escalation" that could lead to a full-scale Palestinian uprising.He offered no public proposals to end the unrest, but spoke of returning to "meaningful negotiations" after more than a year of frozen peace efforts and seething frustration with Israel's occupation.At least 47 Palestinians and one Arab Israeli have been killed in the upsurge in violence that began at the start of the month, including alleged attackers. At least eight Israelis have died."We will continue to support all efforts to create the conditions to make meaningful negotiations possible," Ban said after meeting Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.