Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said he sticks to what he called the requirements of resuming peace talks with Israel.
"The resumption of negotiations requires full suspension of all settlement activities and defining a clear reference to the peace process," Abbas was quoted by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, as saying.
Abbas made his comments when he received the U.S. Consul General, Daniel Rubinstein, at his office in Ramallah.
The peace talks stopped in September, when Israel resumed building Jewish settlements in the West Bank after a nine-month moratorium.
Earlier Wednesday, a Palestinian official said the Palestinian National Authority rejected U.S. pressure to resume the peace negotiations, demanding that Israel stop all kinds of settlement activities.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian leadership welcomed a call by Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi to hold an international conference for peace.
"We hope that there would be an international peace forum, but the problem is in Israel and the United States," said Nemer Hammad, an aide to Abbas, adding that both countries "would reject this idea."
Confidence between the Palestinian leadership and the Obama administration was harmed when the U.S. vetoed an Arab draft resolution condemning Jewish settlement and calling for immediate halt of construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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