国际英语新闻：Palestine calls on world to press Israel to stop settlement activities

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Friday called on the international community to "exert pressure on Israel to cease its settlement activities."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made the appeal when addressing the annual debate of the UN General Assembly, which entered its third day here on Friday.

    "We call upon the international community to uphold international law and international legitimacy and to exert pressure on Israel to cease its settlement activities," he said.

    The Palestinian leader also called on the international community to press Israel "to comply with the signed agreements and to desist from the occupation and colonial settlement policies, release the 10,000 prisoners and detainees, and to lift the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip."

    Gaza "was subjected months ago to a devastating aggression, which caused thousands of casualties among civilians, and wrought uNPRecedented destruction of infrastructure, and public facilities, including hospitals, mosques, schools and United Nations facilities," Abbas noted.

    The Middle East diplomatic Quartet on Thursday hailed as an "important step" U.S. President Barack Obama's three-way talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas.

    A statement released after a ministerial session of the Quartet-- the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States -- said Tuesday's inconclusive meeting was a "significant step toward the re-launching of direct, bilateral negotiations as part of a comprehensive resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict."

    UN chief Ban Ki-moon huddled with his Quartet partners on the margins of the UN General Assembly session here.

    The Quartet said it "shares the sense of urgency expressed by President Obama and fully supports the steps ahead as outlined in his statement to the UN General Assembly."

    The Obama administration has demanded a complete freeze to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, land the Palestinians want to turn into a future state. But Israel has so far balked.