A proposed resolution by Arab states criticizing Israel's widely-rumored atomic arsenal was narrowly defeated Friday at a gathering of the U.N. nuclear agency.

Following an acrimonious debate at the International Atomic Energy Agency's annual general conference, the measure, supported by Iran, was defeated by 51 votes against and 43 in favor with 32 abstentions.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Thursday that peace talks could come to an abrupt end if Israel continues building settlements on occupied land and killing Palestinians.

"There is a kind of pattern in these negotiations since they began," Erakat said during a visit with diplomats and journalists to the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank.

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip has hit southern Israel, the army said on Thursday, but no casualties or damage was reported.

The remains of the rocket, which was fired on Wednesday, were found early on Thursday after a search by security forces, an army statement said.

The Free Patriotic Movement has blamed its ally Hizbullah for not speeding up efforts to make Lebanon an oil exploration country, As Safir newspaper reported on Thursday.

The daily said that the issue was discussed by FPM chief Michel Aoun and Hizbullah officials Hussein Khalil and Wafiq Safa during a meeting they held in Rabieh on Wednesday.

An Israeli unit crossed on Wednesday the technical fence at the southern town of al-Abbasiyeh, reported the National News Agency.

It added that the unit, comprised of some ten soldiers, did not violate the Blue Line.

Thailand on Wednesday sentenced a Swedish citizen of Lebanese origin to two years and eight months in prison for possession of materials that could be used to make a bomb.

Atris Hussein, 49, was arrested in January last year after a tip-off from Israel's secret services that Hizbullah members planned to attack Thailand during the New Year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he would stress the need to halt Iran's nuclear program when he meets U.S. President Barack Obama later this month.

Speaking at a meeting of his cabinet, Netanyahu said he would meet Obama before addressing the United Nations in New York.

Israel is to allow limited quantities of building materials for use by the private sector into the blockaded Gaza Strip starting from Sunday, a Palestinian official said.

After "efforts exerted by the Palestinian Authority, Israel has agreed for the first time in six years for building materials such as cement, iron and gravel to be brought into Gaza from Sunday" through the Kerem Shalom goods crossing, Raed Fattouh, PA official in charge of Gaza supplies, told Agence France Presse Tuesday.

Iran on Tuesday denounced U.S. President Barack Obama for keeping the "threat" of military force on the table to coerce the Islamic state into curbing its controversial nuclear activities.

"It is a source of regret that he still uses the language of threat after we told them to replace it with one of respect," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told reporters.

Israeli troops Tuesday shot and fatally wounded a suspected Palestinian militant during a raid on his home in a West Bank refugee camp, the army and Palestinian security officials said.

"The wanted suspect was injured, evacuated by military forces for further treatment and later died of his wounds in an Israeli hospital," a military statement said.