Palestinians want U.N. to halt settlements

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The Palestinian leadership plans to seek a U.N. resolution to force Israel to cease settlement construction, officials said.

The decision was made in Ramallah Tuesday, at a meeting of the Palestinian Authority leadership led by President Mahmoud Abbas, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported.

"We will follow this dangerous issue closely in the next few days, so that if Israel pursues construction it would indicate that it has no interest in ever achieving peace," Palestinian media quoted Abbas as saying.

Enjoying the strong support of Europe in the wake of the U.N. resolution that upgraded the Palestinian status to that of non-member observer state and harsh criticism toward Israel for expanding settlement construction in response to the U.N. vote, Riyad al-Maliki, minister of foreign affairs, said the Palestinians intend to take advantage of their position to create an international front to pressure Israel to halt settlement activity.

"We can't face the Israeli procedures single-handedly so we will take advantage of the positive positions of countries and try to build an international front to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation and its expansionist policies," he told Ma'an News agency.

"It is all about logistic and administrative procedures such as the Palestinian passport design, and official correspondence between the state of Palestine and other countries. We are studying this very deeply to make sure we are not breaching previous commitments."