U.S. Senator Rand Paul informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of his country's opposition to the Palestinian intention to join United Nations agencies, a well- informed Palestinian sources said Monday.
The source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity the Republican Senator told Abbas after a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah that the United States will impose sanctions on the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) if it decided to join UN agencies.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) decided last week to take serious steps toward joining international treaties and conventions as well a number of UN agencies.
The PLO said this step is meant to boost the UN General Assembly's vote which upgraded the status of Palestine to that of a non-member observer state in November 2012.
According to the source, Paul asked Abbas to resume direct peace talks wit Israel without preconditions.
Paul also said that the U.S. administration is going to push for the resumption of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel very soon.
Abbas, for his part, demanded U.S. pressure on Israel to halt its settlement activities and hostilities against the Palestinians, said the source, adding that Abbas expressed his resentment at the U.S. fiscal embargo on the PNA.
Abbas is expected to meet Tuesday U.S. peace envoy to the Middle East David Hale in Ramallah.
Peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel hit a brick wall in 2010 over Israeli settlement expansion.
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