Abbas to present US peace framework to PLO

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will present to the Palestine Liberation Organization leadership on Sunday night an American framework for the resumption of peace talks with Israel, Israel Radio reported.

The website of the Palestinian newspaper al-Quds quoted sources who indicated that the PLO would reject the proposal.

The move comes a day before the scheduled meeting between top US diplomat John Kerry and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday, on ways to advance a Middle East peace deal.

The Palestinian Authority has said it intends to present a resolution to the UN Security Council demanding a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines and the establishment of a Palestinian state — a move the US would likely veto given its traditional insistence on achieving Palestinian statehood through bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Peace talks collapsed in the spring amid bitter Israeli-Palestinian recriminations.

Kerry will also discuss “lowering tensions in Jerusalem” with the Palestinian team, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Sunday.

Last week, top US officials were forced onto the defensive after a magazine published scathing anonymous comments from an Obama administration official describing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “chickenshit.”

Kerry denounced the comments as “disgraceful, unacceptable and damaging,” saying they did not represent the views of President Barack Obama or his cabinet.

The report was yet another blow to shaky US-Israel relations, which have seriously frayed since Kerry’s bid to broker a peace treaty collapsed in April, and over disagreements on a potential deal between Iran and the P5+1 world powers on Tehran’s nuclear program.

Times of Israel staff and AFP contributed to this report.