Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged on Wednesday to "speed up" work with Hamas to form a new caretaker government and to prepare for fresh elections.

In an address to the Palestinian leadership timed to mark seven years since the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat and the 23rd anniversary of their declaration of independence, Abbas vowed to push ahead with efforts to cement a landmark unity deal between Fatah and Hamas.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said he would push for statehood at the United Nations even if he resumes peace negotiations with Israel, Egyptian state media reported on Saturday.

Abbas, who was in Cairo for meetings with Egypt's leadership, said he would "immediately" resume talks with Israel if it accepted a Middle East Quartet statement from last month, MENA said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to partially freeze West Bank settlement building if it will bring the Palestinians back to direct talks, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.

According to Haaretz, the offer was made in a conversation with Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin on Wednesday during a surprise visit to the region in order to try and help the parties reach some kind of agreement on how to resume talks.

The United States' special envoy for Middle East peace, David Hale, will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas during his visit to Paris, the U.S. embassy here said Thursday.

"Hale is going to meet with Abbas," embassy spokesman Paul Patin told Agence France Presse. He could not say when the meeting would take place or provide other details.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet in Paris in the coming days to discuss the Palestinian bid for U.N. recognition, Abbas' envoy said.

Palestinian foreign minister Ryad al-Maliki said Abbas would depart for France after meeting Tuesday with Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on the request for U.N. Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Europe on Wednesday to back the "Palestinian Spring" by supporting his government's bid to win a place at the United Nations.

"Today we are at the heart of the Arab Spring: we say that the hour of the Palestinian Spring has struck," he said in a speech to the parliamentary assembly of the 47-nation Council of Europe.

The Palestinians need to show flexibility and get back to the negotiating table, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said in an interview with Egypt's Al-Hayat TV released Saturday.

Asked about the Palestinians' quest for full recognition at the United Nations, the top U.S. diplomat appeared to try to downplay the importance of the ongoing effort, which Washington opposes and has promised to veto.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Friday the importance of Palestinian national unity given the talk of the recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

He said upon his arrival in Tehran to take part in the fifth international conference to support the Palestinian intifada: “It’s important to reveal to the world the conspiracies being plotted against the Palestinian cause.”

The Palestinians have secured eight Security Council yes votes for their U.N. membership bid, just one short of the nine they need, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Riyad al-Malki said he had received assurances from two additional nations -- Nigeria and Gabon -- that they would vote in favor of the Palestinian bid for full state membership at the U.N.

Israeli's Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that its district planning committee had approved a plan for 1,100 new homes in the east Jerusalem settlement neighborhood of Gilo.

"The Israeli interior ministry announced on Tuesday that the plan for 1,100 new housing units in Gilo had passed its district planning committee, and will now be available for public objections for 60 days," a ministry statement said.