Arab states on Wednesday said they would give the United States four months to produce results from indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, DPA reported.
The decision, announced in a statement obtained by the German Press Agency dpa, follows a US proposal for "proximity talks" as a precursor to restarting direct negotiations.
Members of the Arab League said they would review the results of the negotiations after four months, and insisted that direct talks could not begin until Israel completely halted all settlement construction to the east of its 1967 borders, including in East Jerusalem.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, however, said his country objected to the declaration.
"There was no consensus on the statement ... This is a Palestinian decision," al-Moallem said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must now secure the agreement of his Fatah party for the resumption of indirect negotiations, but he has previously said the Palestinian Authority would abide by the Arab states' decision.
"My country's delegation said the Arab Peace Initiative does not authorise such an approval," the Syrian foreign minister said.
Arab League members in 2002, and again in 2007, offered Israel full diplomatic recognition in exchange for its complete withdrawal from the territories it occupied and annexed in 1967, and a "just" solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has called the initiative "dangerous and a tested formula for the destruction of Israel," because it could lead to the return of millions of Palestinian refugees.
The US administration and European partners have sought to restart direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in recent months, following their suspension after last winter's conflict in the Gaza Strip that left more than 1,000 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Abbas has insisted there is "no point" in restarting direct negotiations while Israeli construction in its West Bank settlements continues.