Palestinians to push Israel to accept a deadline for talks

JERICHO, West Bank - Palestinian officials said Saturday that they planned to give Israel a deadline to accept ground rules for negotiations, and suggested that a "no" would allow them to shelve Mideast talks until the Israelis agreed to the condition.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is to spell out the requirements in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki. He said he did not know how long Netanyahu would be given to respond.

Abbas has long said he will not resume talks unless Israel freezes settlement construction on occupied lands and recognizes the pre-1967 war frontier as a baseline for talks on a border between Israel and a future Palestinian state. The Palestinians want to establish their state in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967.

Netanyahu has rejected both demands, insisting that negotiations resume without what he has portrayed as preconditions. A government official reiterated Saturday that Israel was ready to resume talks immediately.

Palestinian officials have said there is no point negotiating with the Netanyahu government, arguing that there is not enough common ground for reaching an agreement. A negative Israeli response to the Abbas letter would free the Palestinian leader to pursue other options, including reviving a bid to win U.N. membership for a Palestinian state.

Abbas has been under international pressure to keep negotiating with Israel; the last round of full-fledged negotiations between Abbas and Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, broke down in 2008. Netanyahu has retreated from Olmert's positions, insisting, for example, that he will not relinquish East Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital.

In January, Abbas reluctantly agreed to low-level border talks with Israel, but he quit after five rounds, saying Israel had not presented detailed proposals, as required by the Quartet, the group of Mideast mediators that consists of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia.

Both Netanyahu and Abbas are eager to avoid blame for the continued deadlock.