PLO leader Hanan Ashrawi on Sunday denied saying the US had threatened to sever ties with the Palestinian Authority unless it resumed talks with Israel.

Ashrawi described a report by the Israeli daily Haaretz quoting an interview she gave an Arabic newspaper as "totally baseless" and said she never made the remark to the press. She called the Haaretz report a "malicious" fabrication.

On Saturday, Haaretz quoted a line from the the PLO Executive Committee member's interview with the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi in which she was quoted as saying that "There has been huge pressure on the Palestinian Authority to move to direct talks."

The US denied the allegation, describing the prospect of severing ties with the PA on the basis of its refusal to return to direct talks as bordering on "absurdity," Haaretz reported.

After Ma'an quoted Haaretz' version of her interview, Ashrawi warned Palestinian media against using Israeli news as a primary source of information as it is "unreliable and lacking credibility."

The Al-Quds Al-Arabi interview was still online Sunday night.