Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he expected the Security Council to finish debating his nation's application for full UN membership within weeks, not months.
The Quartet of Middle East negotiators urged Israel and the Palestinians on Friday to resume peace talks within one month and aim for a deal by the end of 2012.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said US President Barack Obama vision of a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 could leave the Jewish state indefensible.
Chile’s President Sebastian Piñera visited both sides of the hotly contested Israeli- Palestine border this weekend. He reasserted his support for an independent Palestinian state, but fell short of formally recognizing the pre-1967 borders.