Israel said on November 9 that it would go ahead with plans for 1,300 new apartments on land in and around Jerusalem that was annexed by Israel following the 1967 Middle East war. A further 800 housing units were planned for the settlement of Ariel in the northern West Bank.

"Something must be done on the international level to halt the settlement expansion which the Israeli government is undertaking in the West Bank, including Jerusalem," Nabil Abu Rdainah, the spokesman for Abbas, said on November 10.

Abbas had instructed his delegate to the United Nations, where the Palestinians have observer status, to request the meeting, he told Reuters.

US-backed peace talks aimed at ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state are stalled because of the dispute over the construction of settlements.

Abbas has also said he will seek US and UN Security Council support for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the event of a failure of the talks, part of the "peace process" that began two decades ago.