Ramallah, Oct 18 (IANS): Palestine urged the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting over the Israeli settlement issue, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said.

Al-Maliki told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah that Palestine intends to call on the UN General Assembly to meet or hold an emergency session of the UN Security Council on the escalation of settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, reports Xinhua news agency.

He added that "contacts and consultations are taking place with the US with the aim of pressing the Israeli government to stop its settlement plans in the West Bank and East Jerusalem".

Earlier, Israel announced that it intends to build more new settlement projects in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

According to Israeli and Palestinian estimates, about 650,000 Israeli settlers live in 164 settlements and 124 outposts in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israeli settlement is the thorniest issue in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and one of the main reasons for stopping the last round of direct peace negotiations between the two sides in 2014.