Reuters reported that the UAE had informed the UN Security Council that it would not call for a vote on a draft resolution calling for Israel to immediately and completely stop all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The agency stated that the UAE sent a memorandum to the member states of the Security Council, in which it stated that it is currently drafting an official statement called the presidential statement, which the council must approve unanimously.

Last Wednesday, the UAE distributed the text of a resolution to the member states of the Security Council, which it had drafted in coordination with the Palestinian Authority.

This step came after the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued licenses for nine outposts and announced the construction of thousands of units in the occupied West Bank.

In mid-September 2020, the UAE and Israel concluded an agreement to fully normalize diplomatic relations between them, and since that time they have signed many bilateral agreements between them in various fields.

Media leaks

Earlier Sunday, Israeli media said that the Security Council would not vote today, Monday, on a draft resolution condemning the settlements, after positive contacts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, mediated by the United States, which included an agreement to suspend Tel Aviv's promotion of settlement construction in the West Bank.

The Hebrew news website Walla (private) quoted two Israeli sources, describing them as insiders, as saying that in light of the intense pressure exerted by US President Joe Biden's administration, the Israeli and Palestinian parties reached an understanding that the Palestinians would not promote a vote in the Security Council against settlements on Monday.

In exchange, the two sources added, Israel will temporarily suspend promotion of further construction in settlements in the West Bank, house demolitions and evictions of Palestinians.

According to the Hebrew news site, Washington wants to stop the vote on the draft resolution condemning the settlements in the Security Council, so that it will not be forced to use the veto power to stop the issuance of the resolution, which would be the opposite of its positions against the issue of construction in the settlements.

In a related context, the site reported that, through American mediation, Israel and the Palestinian Authority had reached an understanding regarding reducing tensions in the West Bank, whereby the two sides would suspend unilateral measures for a few months.

Walla said, quoting his sources, that the Americans exerted intense pressure to push the understandings forward, due to the great fear of an escalation in the upcoming month of Ramadan (which begins in the last week of next March) and the Jewish Passover, if the current tensions persist.

Condemning Hamas

For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) condemned Sunday the withdrawal of the Palestinian Authority's draft resolution condemning the settlements from the Security Council.

"We strongly condemn and denounce the response of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to American requests to withdraw a draft resolution condemning settlements in the Security Council," Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement.

He added that the movement considers this behavior outside the Palestinian national consensus.

And on Saturday, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh announced, in his speech during the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, that the UN Security Council will vote on Monday on a draft resolution to stop unilateral Israeli measures and oblige Tel Aviv to the agreements signed with the Palestinian Authority.

The past years have witnessed a remarkable rise in settlement activity, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced more than once in recent weeks that his government will give a greater impetus to settlement activity.

About 725,000 settlers are distributed in 176 large settlements and 186 random outposts in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to data from the Settlement Affairs Authority of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Under international law, all Israeli settlements in occupied territory are considered "illegal", and the United Nations has said their expansion "violates" human rights law.