Secretary-General urges Israel to halt demolition of Palestinian homes

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday urged the Israeli authorities to cease the practice of destroying Palestinian homes, and launched a call for self-restraint and re-starting peace efforts."He strongly urges Israel to halt such activities," the spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Secretary-General said in a statement that Annan believed that actions such as the demolition of homes on 9 and 10 July "only aggravate the already tense situation in the occupied Palestinian territory."