Abbas meets with Fatah movement's Revolutionary Council

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed Fatah party's Revolutionary Council. The Revolutionary Council, consisting of some 128 members, convenes every three months. It is charged with implementing resolutions of the congress and monitoring the performance of Fatah's Central Committee. Earlier in the week, he had made clear that he still wants US President Barack Obama to press Israel to halt all expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before he would consider new negotiations. Appearing to pour cold water on the new US push, Abbas said in an interview he would resist pressure to resume negotiations unless his demands on Jewish settlements were met. Abbas has insisted on a complete halt to Israeli building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and is not satisfied with a partial, temporary freeze ordered by Netanyahu. Abbas has so far resisted US pressure to return to talks with Israel. Obama disappointed Abbas last year when he softened his demand for a settlement building freeze, instead calling on Israel to exercise restraint in construction in the lands it captured in a 1967 Middle East war.