U.N. chief urges restraint in E Jerusalem

JERUSALEM, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to end provocative actions in East Jerusalem after settlers stormed a home, officials said.

A statement issued by the secretary-general said such actions "stoke tensions, cause suffering and further undermine trust," Haaretz said Wednesday.

Clashes erupted Tuesday when settlers attempted to evict a Palestinian family from their home in the Sheikh Jarrah area in East Jerusalem after a local court denied the residents' appeal to live in the building, the newspaper said.

Police were called in to defuse tensions after clashes erupted, the paper said.

The Jerusalem Post, however, said no one was evicted and noted the section of the property owned by Jews had been vacant for some time. It said the Palestinian family living in a separate section of the building remained there.

A police spokesman said the Jews had arrived at the building to begin renovations, the English-language paper said.

The building is one of 28 properties in Sheikh Jarrah that are the core of an ongoing legal battle between Jewish families claiming ownership and Palestinian families living there, the paper said.