The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is still consulting with Washington over the latter's offer for launching indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday.

"We have not get responses yet to the clarifications we asked for and we are still consulting," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua following a meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a U.S. diplomat in Ramallah.

Earlier in the day, Erekat said the American official, an assistant to U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, was supposed to hand Washington's answers to Abbas.

"When we receive the answers, we will go to the Arab League to discuss it with our Arab brothers," Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio.

Noting that the negotiations with the Jewish state have "left no stone unturned," Erekat said that the Palestinians now need decisions and intervention from a third party.

According to the senior Palestinian negotiator, the central Palestinian question is what U.S. President Barack Obama will do " if Israel refuses the principle of two-state solution based on the borders of lands Israel has occupied since 1967."

The Palestinians and Israelis renewed their long-stalled peace talks in late 2007 under active U.S. mediation, yet the talks bogged down a year later when Israel launched a military campaign against the Gaza Strip.

Efforts to put the process back on track have so far failed to bear any fruits as gaping gaps remain between the two Middle East foes on settlements, East Jerusalem and other core issues.

Go to Forum >>0 Comments