Hamas said Monday it was "totally opposed" to Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's plans to re-submit to the UN Security Council a resolution on forcing Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria.

"Hamas is totally opposed to any return to the UN Security Council by the Palestinian Authority," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement. "Such a step would be political foolishness which plays a dangerous game with the destiny of our nation."

"Mahmud Abbas and the leadership of the Palestinian Authority should completely stop this political foolishness," Abu Zuhri said.

On January 2, the Palestinian leadership decided to refile a draft resolution forcing a unilateral solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. The draft had failed to pass a vote in the Security Council on December 30.

Speaking to AFP, Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said the resolution would be presented again "soon," without saying exactly when.

The vote saw Security Council heavyweights China, France and Russia among eight countries who gave their support, while the United States and Australia voted against.

Five other countries, including Britain, abstained - among them Nigeria which had been expected to vote in favor but changed its stance at the last minute.

The failure to win the nine "yes" votes necessary for the resolution to be adopted spared Washington from having to wield its veto, a move sure to cause embarrassment with its key Arab allies.

Unity government crumbling?

The remarks are just the latest in a series of signs that the Hamas-Fatah government, formed last year after years of tension due to Hamas’s bloody takeover of Gaza in 2007, is slowly crumbling.

The most recent reconciliation attempt has been rocked by tensions, most notably Hamas's attempt to stage a violent coup in Judea and Samaria against the PA.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said last month that the six-month mandate of the unity government agreed on in April and established in June had ended.

He added that "national dialogue and consensus" should decide whether to break apart the government or change its members, adding Hamas "isn't interested in incitement, but rather seeks to maintain national unity."

Two weeks before that, the head of Hamas’s politburo, Khaled Mashaal, said that the Palestinian reconciliation "scene" was not satisfying.

Last week, Hamas criticized PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s application to join the International Criminal Court and several other international conventions and treaties, saying Abbas does not have the authority to make such decisions on his own and that they must be approved by the entire Palestinian parliament.