Progress toward peace between Israel and Palestine requires that Israel freeze its settlement-building, the U.N. secretary-general said Tuesday, adding that reacting to occupation is "human nature.""As oppressed people have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation," Ban said, slamming Israel's oppressive policies targeting Palestinians.Ban also called the settlement activities "an affront to the Palestinian people and to the international community."Addressing the U.N. Security Council's periodic Middle East debate, Ban Ki-moon also urged both sides to act now "to prevent the two-state solution from slipping away forever." He also condemned attacks against Israeli civilians and called for an end to incitement from both parties.Dozens of people on both sides have died in four months of violence, which Israel blames on Palestinian incitement. Palestinians say the attacks stem from frustration at nearly five decades of Israeli military rule and occupation.Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour urged the council to act.Israel's U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, did not address settlement-building. He instead showed reporters what he called "terror dolls" that he said are used to teach hatred to Palestinian children.The comments by Ban and others came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week said his government is committed to West Bank settlements. Ban said he was "deeply troubled" by new reports that Israel's government has approved plans for more than 150 new settlements in the West Bank illegally occupied by Israel.Israel has recently approved the expropriation of some 370 acres (150 hectares) of land in another part of the Palestinian territory.Most of the international community views Israeli settlements in the territory as illegal or illegitimate. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the council that the United States "strongly opposes settlement activity."Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community. Palestinians, for their part, continue to demand the establishment of an independent state on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with East Jerusalem – currently occupied by Israel – as its capital.Today, some 380,000 Israelis live in 135 West Bank settlements, with another 200,000 in east Jerusalem. Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party has come under heavy criticism for its approvals of settlements on illegally occupied Palestinian lands.In the occupied West Bank, extremist settlers have caused global uproar upon their killings and attacks against Palestinians. Last summer, two Israeli settlers murdered a Palestinian family - including an 18-month-old child - in an arson attack in the occupied Palestinian territories.Many countries, including Turkey and the United States, have condemned the violence and the illegal settlements in the area and called upon Israel to put an end to its indifferent attitude towards the atrocities in Palestinian lands.