The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is to resort to the UN Security Council to halt Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, a senior Palestinian official said Monday.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General told a press conference that the PNA decided to take the issue to the Security Council "to halt the unprecedented Israeli settlement activities in Jerusalem."
Abed Rabbo's statements followed a meeting of the PLO executive committee under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of
Ramallah.
"The decision aims at obliging Israel to halt settlement activities in the occupied East Jerusalem and to stop threatening the city's Palestinian residents to confiscate their identity cards," Abed Rabbo told reporters.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations on final status issues, including Jerusalem and settlements, had completely stopped in December
2008, after Israel insisted on expanding settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
"The PLO executive committee called on Libya to devote the coming annual Arab summit, which will be held in Tripoli on March, to support
Jerusalem and stop Israeli settlement plans," said Abed Rabbo.
As the peace talks are stalled between the two sides, the Palestinians complained that Israel has kept expanding settlements, carrying out daily
arrests in the West Bank and keeping the Gaza Strip under a tight blockade.
The PLO official stressed that Israel should end the Gaza blockade. He also slammed Islamic Hamas movement which rules the strip for "encouraging the digging of smuggling tunnels under Gaza- Egypt borders."
"Instead of digging tunnels and earning illegal wealth, Hamas should accept to sign the inter-reconciliation (document) in order to operate Gaza Strip border crossings in accordance with the international agreements," said Abed Rabbo.