Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is under big U.S. pressure to cancel an Arab-Palestinian draft resolution against the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, a senior official from Abbas' Fatah party said Monday.
Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, said " some more international sides" are putting pressure on Abbas to stop the draft resolution which would be presented before the UN Security Council, Xinhua reported.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned Abbas. Al-Ahmad said the phone conversation was meant to exert more pressure on Abbas.
However, al-Ahmad said the Palestinians are determined to go ahead and put the draft resolution before the UN Security Council. It calls on Israel to cease settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem immediately and condemns the construction.
The Palestinians decided to go to the UN after Israel resumed the construction in the West Bank in September. The Palestinians walked out of the U.S.-brokered peace talks, which were launched in that month, to protest the resumption of building.
Meanwhile, resigned Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Reyad al-Malki said that he expects the UN Security Council to convene by the end of this week. However, he said there were fears that Washington will influence UN member states to block the draft resolution.