Abbas seeks to push ahead with unilateral statehood bid
Palestinians hope new Security Council members will be more sympathetic to the resolution that was voted down by the council last week • Palestinian officials condemn Israel's decision to withhold 500 million shekels in monthly tax funds.
By Daniel Siryoti, Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters
January 5, 2015
Israel Hayom
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=22587

It appears the Palestinian Authority was not impressed by Israel's retaliatory measures and America's threats to cut off funding: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he was discussing with Jordan plans to resubmit to the United Nations Security Council a resolution calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state that failed to win enough votes last week.
Jordan remains a member of the Security Council while several other countries with revolving membership were replaced over the New Year.
The Palestinians hope these states will be more sympathetic to their resolution demanding an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria within three years, although the United States would be all but certain to vote No again, as it did on Dec. 30. If the resolution passes, the U.S. would veto it, as the U.S. has called the resolution one-sided and unproductive.
Speaking at a cultural conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian seat of self-rule government, Abbas said there would be no let up on the Palestinians' effort to gain membership.
We didn't fail, Abbas said. The U.N. Security Council failed us. We'll go again to the Security Council. Why not? Perhaps after a week. We are studying it and we will study this with our allies and especially Jordan; because they are close to us and they care about us. You all know the historical relationship (with Jordan), but also Jordan is a member of the U.N. Security Council. We will discuss with Jordan, to submit the resolution again, a third time or even a fourth time. We will not give up until the Security Council gives us admission.
In the U.N. vote last Tuesday, the Palestinian resolution received eight votes in favor (Russia, China, France, Jordan, Chad, Luxembourg, Argentina and Chile), two against (the United States and Australia), and five abstentions (Britain, Rwanda, Nigeria, Lithuania and South Korea).
Abbas signed onto 20 international conventions the next day, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In retaliation for the ICC move, Israel http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=22571 \t _blank announced on Saturday that it would withhold 500 million shekels ($127 million) in monthly tax funds that it collects on behalf of the PA.
PA officials strongly condemned this move, with chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat calling it pirate behavior and a new Israeli war crime. Erekat also issued a threat, saying that economic sanctions imposed by Israel and the U.S. could lead the PA to disband itself, which would force Israel to reassert civilian authority over the Palestinians who live in the West Bank.
A senior PA security official told Israel Hayom that a delayed payment of salaries to Palestinian security personnel could cause chaos within the PA and lead to the outbreak of a third intifada. With its punitive measures, Israel is pushing the Palestinians back to armed struggle, the official said. The feeling is that we already have nothing to lose.