According to press sources Israel has rejected a proposal by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to convene a tripartite meeting to discuss conditions for resuming direct negotiations. Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Thursday that Israel insisted the proposed meeting will discuss "technical issues" and not the terms of reference.
The newspaper quoted a senior Palestinian official as saying that "David Hill, Assistant to U.S. envoy to the peace process told President Abbas during a meeting two days ago in Ramallah that the Israeli side refused to meet regarding terms of reference, and agreed to discuss only technical matters before the start direct negotiations. "
The official said the tripartite meeting was one of three options presented by President Mahmoud Abbas to the U.S. administration in order to move to direct negotiations.
He added: "The first option was that President Barack Obama will send a message to the Palestinian and Israeli sides, confirming that direct negotiations would discuss the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders of June 4th, 1967 with the cessation of settlement."
He continued: "The second option in the event of rejection of the first is that the Quartet Committee sends this message to both sides. The third option in the case the two others were rejected was to hold a tripartite meeting on the terms of reference for the direct negotiations. The official concluded that none of the three options was not accepted.
