Israeli Activist Attacked by Masked Extremist

Video footage has emerged showing a masked man, presumed to be an Israeli extremist, attacking an Israeli rights activist with a knife and scuffling with him in the West Bank.

It shows the man threatening Rabbi Arik Ascherman of the Israeli group Rabbis for Human Rights on Friday afternoon, then pulling out a knife and making stabbing gestures with it. The masked man kicks and wrestles Ascherman to the ground before running away.

Ascherman told Channel 2 TV that "One of the masked Israelis ran toward me with big stones, started to throw stones and pulled out a knife. After a short struggle he ran away."

According to the station, the rights group was helping Palestinians harvest olives in the northern West Bank when they were harassed by Israeli extremists. It said police have opened an investigation.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging international and Mideast leaders to take action to prevent the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from becoming a religious dispute that could be exploited by extremists on both sides "with potentially dangerous regional implications."

The U.N. chief, who just returned from talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, told reporters in New York on Friday that "despite the anger and the polarization, there is still time to step back from the brink."

Ban said he hopes Friday's meeting in Vienna of the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.N., U.S., EU, Russia — and Arab leaders, and other meetings will result in an end to violence.

He said Quartet envoys plan to visit the region soon "to explore significant steps" to restore confidence and move toward a two-state solution.