Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to arrive in New York on Tuesday morning and hopes the council will adopt a revamped Arab-backed resolution in the afternoon, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki told reporters.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the United States, Israel's closest council ally, shares Arab concerns 'about the urgency of the situation' and the goal of moving rapidly - but he warned against 'false expectations', saying it will take more than a few hours or 'a day or so' to get 'an enduring solution to the problem, an enduring cease-fire'.
'Practical arrangements have to be put in place in which everyone has confidence that it will be maintained, it will be respected, it will be observed,' he said.
Mr Khalilzad said a cease-fire must deal with Hamas' rocketing of southern Israel and the Israeli military operations and a new resolution must also address issues related to opening border crossings to enable humanitarian supplies to flow freely, and ending arms smuggling into Gaza.
The council scheduled an open meeting late Tuesday afternoon, which will be chaired by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country holds the rotating council presidency, France's UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said.
'We would like to have a resolution as soon as possible and as soon as feasible,' Mr Ripert told reporters.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco were at UN headquarters on Monday, meeting with envoys from other Arab nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Security Council members.
Other Arab foreign ministers - including from Saudi Arabia and Egypt - were arriving Tuesday to show Arab unity and support for a quick end and permanent solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Some non-Arab ministers are also expected.
Mr Malki said the Palestinians want a resolution that will end 'the Israeli aggression' in Gaza, call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, lift the Israeli 'siege,' open all border crossings and allow delivery of humanitarian aid. It should also deploy international observers at the crossings and authorize an international force to protect civilians, he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says the observers should be able to close tunnels used to smuggle weapons to Hamas from Egypt.
Mr Malki said observers should monitor how the crossings are being managed, though he said the tunnels should be shut down without saying who should be responsible.
Mr Ban told reporters after meeting with the Arab Group that they agreed to work very closely so the Security Council 'can take decisive and swift and credible action for (a) binding resolution to bring an immediate end to this crisis.' 'I think we have some convergence on the major elements which can be the basis of discussions at the Security Council.' Moussa said drafting a revised council resolution would begin immediately.
'We cannot afford to spend more time while a bloody situation continues,' he said. 'That's why we need to put an end to that and reach a conclusion, perhaps by tomorrow evening.'
An Arab draft resolution circulated by Libya on Wednesday night that would condemn Israel and halt its military attacks on Gaza remains on the table. The US, however, called it 'unacceptable' and 'unbalanced' because it doesn't call for an end to the Hamas rocketing of Israel.
The Arab drafting being undertaken now will be aimed at revising the initial draft to win support of the 15 council members, especially the United States, which has a veto.
Mr Ban and his wife are flying to Washington Tuesday to have a previously scheduled farewell lunch with President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, and the secretary-general said he plans 'to stress the importance of bringing this ... violent situation to an immediate halt.'
Late on Saturday, the United States blocked approval of a Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire and expressing serious concern at the escalation of violence after Israeli tanks and artillery began a ground assault on Gaza, council diplomats said.
US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said then that the United States saw no need for the statement because Hamas was not abiding by an earlier Security Council call for an end to rocket and mortar attacks on Israel.
Mr Khalilzad stressed that the United States is working very hard 'to end as quickly, as rapidly as possible,' though he wouldn't give a timeline. But he said 'nobody should go away and think the United States or Israel wants this to go on and on.'
The Palestinian Authority, which is seeking the Security Council resolution, has no political power in Gaza and is a rival to Hamas, which is not represented in the UN discussions, at least not directly.
Giving the Palestinian Authority prominence in negotiating a new resolution could enhance its reputation, but whether Hamas will agree to the terms if the council approves it remains to be seen.
Asked the purpose of a new resolution if Gaza remains under Hamas' control, Mr Malki said the Palestinian Authority has heard from Hamas that it was rocketing Israel to get the Israelis to lift their siege of Gaza and reopen the Rafah border crossing to Egypt.
If a new Security Council resolution succeeds in reopening all border crossings into Gaza, lifting the Israeli siege, allowing in humanitarian aid and deploying international monitors, he said, 'I think we are doing exactly what Hamas tried to do through rockets and did not achieve it.' 'What we are trying to get from this resolution is more than what Hamas was really asking,' Mr Malki said.
He said Palestinian reconciliation 'is an important issue,' which the Palestinian Authority has been trying to achieve under Egyptian auspices and wants mentioned in the new resolution. He added that 'the Egyptians are contemplating re-inviting all factions again to Cairo' but no date has been set.
Mr Malki said the revised draft resolution is being discussed with the Bush administration 'at the highest level.' 'We are here with an optimism that there will be no US objection at all,' he said.
Asked whether the transition of power to Barack Obama was complicating efforts to resolve the conflict, Malki expressed disappointment that the president-elect has refused to comment on the Israeli offensive in Gaza. 'We expect him to make a strong statement regarding this as soon as possible,' he said.
Disputing Israeli claims that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza despite its 10-day air and ground offensive, UN humanitarian chief John Holmes called the violence 'a worsening and an increasingly alarming crisis'.
He told reporters on Monday that UN officials believe as many as 25 percent of the 500 people killed in the fighting are civilians, and that Gaza's health system is 'increasingly precarious' due to the more than 2,500 injured. Mr Holes added that 'clearly cluster munitions are being used' which are damaging to the civilian population. -- AP