RAMALLAH, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected an international suggestion that Israel offer a package of goodwill gestures in exchange for resuming direct peace talks, sources said Thursday.
Abbas informed the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers that the economic gestures were not enough for the Palestinians to accept the resumption of negotiations, which have stopped in 2010, the sources said.
To resume the negotiations, Abbas wants Israel to stop settlement building and commit itself to the two-state solution, with the borders of the lands that Israel has occupied in 1967 be the baseline of the solution.
The goodwill gestures that the Quartet suggested include expanding the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)'s control in the West Bank, allowing more Palestinian to work in Israel, issuing reunification permits to Palestinian families and increase exports from the Gaza Strip.
Abbas sees the Quartet's suggestions as Israeli "obligations," not goodwill gestures, according to the sources.
Members of the Quartet, made up of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, were informed about the Palestinian response in a written letter. Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator, handed the letter to the Quartet's representatives who will meet in Munich Saturday to asses exploratory talks that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held last month.
The Quartet sponsored the exploratory talks, but the Palestinians blamed Israel on foiling them because it did not present clear answers to the issues they discussed: security and borders.
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