The Palestinians called on their international allies Thursday to push the United States to use UN resolutions as the basis of its anticipated bridging proposal, aimed at spurring on faltering peace negotiations with Israel.
"I know that the US government is attempting to put together a paper that would attempt to bridge the gaps between the Palestinian and Israeli positions and to push the negotiations forward," international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath told reporters in Gaza.
Shaath was speaking after a meeting he held with international representatives to the self-rule Palestinian Authority.
He called on them to lobby Washington to base its recommendations on UN resolutions which require Israel to pull out from lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war, including the Gaza Strip, West Bank and east Jerusalem.
"We would like to remind the United States and everybody else that our terms of reference are very clear. They are the full implementation of resolutions 242 and 338 and the just and fair resolution of the refugee problem," said Shaath, who met with US officials over the past few days in the United States.
Shaath further accused Israel of having not been dedicated to peace talks since the breakdown of the US-mediated Camp David summit in July.
Israel and the Palestinians were due to have concluded a final peace deal by September 13, but remain divided on all the key issues including control over east Jerusalem and the final size and shape of a future Palestinian state.
Israeli television reported Wednesday that the US paper would suggest international sovereignty over the site in east Jerusalem's Old City that houses areas sacred to both Jews and Muslims.
The United States, however, declined to confirm the report – GAZA CITY (AFP)
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