Israeli PM concerned about UN moves after planned Paris conference

JERUSALEM, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he hoped to stave off any possible moves at the U.N. Security Council against his government's policies following a Paris conference scheduled for later this month on Middle East peace.

The Security Council on Dec. 23 adopted a resolution that demands an end to Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, despite heavy Israeli pressure against it.

France plans to convene some 70 countries on Jan. 15 to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, a conference Netanyahu has rejected in advance as "futile."