Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat announced Tuesday that he will visit Washington to discuss reviving peace talks with U.S. officials.
Erekat stressed that he will not meet the Israeli envoy who will also arrive in Washington this week.
The bilateral discussions which involve Erekat and U.S. State Department officials will "look into how to get out of the current impasse which resulted from Israel's rejection to halt settlement construction," Erekat told Xinhua.
The United States invited Palestinian and Israeli officials to Washington in renewed efforts to revive the Middle East negotiations which was halted in September after Israel allowed a partial moratorium on building settlements in the West Bank to expire.
Erekat will discuss with U.S. officials an Arab-Palestinian draft resolution to condemn the Israeli settlement at the United Nations.
Last month, the Obama administration announced that it had given up efforts to persuade Israel to freeze the settlement construction.
The Palestinians prepare to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state on the lands that Israel has occupied in 1967, though Israel and Washington said the Palestinian state should be a result of a negotiated solution.
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