RAMALLAH, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on Sunday urged the United Nations to work towards achieving peace and stop the Israeli settlement expansion.
In a statement, the ministry blasted the Israeli government for considering the U.S. biased position "as a green light to increase settlement expansion so that it can seize more of the occupied Palestinian land, judaize it and impose it as a non-negotiable fait accompli."
In the latest of Israel's moves to expand settlement, Israel recently approved to build a town for Jewish settlers near Qalqilia, as well as the construction of 3,000 new settlement units in Gilo settlement in southern Jerusalem.
The ministry said, in light of this American bias and Israel's "destructive colonial expansion that destroys the chances of achieving peace," it demands the UN Security Council take necessary measures to implement the resolutions on the situation in Palestine.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold its monthly meeting on Tuesday, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will make a speech for the first time.
His aides said Abbas' speech will express the Palestinian position on the peace process, and the willingness to work through a multilateral mechanism for peace negotiations.
The U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have been stalled since 2014.
On Dec. 6, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump announced to recognize the disputed holy city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and ordered to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to the city.
The Palestinians hope to establish a future independent state with East Jerusalem, taken over by Israel in the 1967 war, as its capital.
In angry response to the U.S. move, the Palestinians have held violent clashes with Israeli security forces, while announcing that the U.S. has disqualified itself as sponsor of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and its role should be replaced by a multilateral peace mechanism.
