by Saud Abu Ramadan

    RAMALLAH, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian National Authority (PNA) recently launched a campaign of contacts, aiming at earning international support for the plans to demarcating the border of the future independent Palestinian state.

    A senior Palestinian official announced Saturday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will start a tour in the Middle East, including Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt.

    The official said Abbas will hold talks with leaders of these Arab countries as part of the Palestinian efforts to gain support for a UN Security Council resolution to make unilateral declaration of an independent Palestinian state.

    The Palestinian leadership is also preparing to head to the UN Security Council to demarcate the border of the future Palestinian state on the border of the 1967 territories, which were occupied by Israel during the war in June 1967, including East Jerusalem asthe capital of the future state.

    Abbas' tour followed a similar one last week, during which he expressed several Latin American countries the PNA position of the current peace process and the Palestinian intention to head to the United Nations for a recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

    The Palestinian state-run news agency Wafa reported that Abbas received a telephone call from the U.S. peace envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, during which the two discussed the stalled Middle East peace process.

    However, Islamic Hamas movement Saturday slammed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) attempts to demarcate the border of the future Palestinian state by heading to the UN Security Council.

    "Such a move made by the PLO is part of the political failure that the PNA is passing through," Salah el-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza told reporters.

    He reminded that the Palestinian document of national accordance "accepted the principle of establishing a Palestinian state on the 1967 border, including the eastern part of Jerusalem, in condition of not recognizing the state of Israel."

    "We believe in the principle of the two-state solution, but we don't recognize the other state (Israel) that was established on our Palestinian land, therefore demarcating the border is a meaningless process that will never succeed," said Bardaweel.

    He called on the PNA to immediately stop the peace negotiations, adding that "this manner has incredibly failed."

    Bardaweel also slammed the United States for not being able to pressure on Israel to stop settlement activities.

    Earlier on Friday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the PLO is seeking to get an international support to demarcate the border of the future Palestinian statehood "because it is the only way to keep the choice of the two states."

    PNA is holding contacts with several European countries to approve the Swedish document that calls for establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, officials said on Saturday.

    EU foreign ministers are scheduled to hold a meeting on Monday to debate a Swedish proposal that calls for considering the eastern part of Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

    The Palestinian campaign of contacts with the Europe aims at confronting an Israeli campaign to convince the Europeans not to adopt the form of the proposal but to adopt a less clear form.

    The PNA minister of foreign affairs Reyad el-Maliki said on Saturday that PNA is putting the Swedish document on the top of its priority to be approved by the European Union. He said the PNA contacts are held on all levels.

    He told the Ramallah-based al-Ayyam Daily that passing the Swedish document "is essential to push forward the peace process and activate it in order to move it to the UN Security Council."

    "Once the Swedish document is approved, we would ask the EU to interpret the document into a project to be raised to the security council in order to be approved," said al-Maliki.

    Some European countries made comments over the Swedish document, with some calling for considering Jerusalem as the capital of the two states instead of saying "East Jerusalem the capital of the Palestinian state."

    Al-Maliki said he does not expect that the document will be approved by the 27-member block, adding that "these countries are divided concerning the question of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."