The Palestinian Authority is urging the United Nations and other global actors to hold Israel accountable for its recent expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel has announced plans to build 3,000 new settlement homes and expand the “E1” settlement zone that splits the West Bank in two in response to last week’s historic Palestinian statehood vote at the United Nations. On Tuesday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the Security Council should pressure Israel to stop expanding settlements.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas: “We’ve communicated with both the U.N. and the U.N. Security Council on this issue. We want to follow up on it if Israel continues in its settlement activity — not just in E1, but all settlement activity. This means clearly that it (Israel) doesn’t want to reach peace.”