A Palestinian official on Thursday ruled out that Israel would accept Palestinian and Arab demands to start direct peace negotiations.
"The declared Israeli stances and Israel's actions on the ground mean that there is no Israeli responses to the Palestinian and Arab demands," said Saleh Ra'fat, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Xinhua reported.
The Palestinians want Israel to declare a freeze in settlement activities in East Jerusalem and West Bank as a key condition to start direct talks. They also say the negotiations should resume from the last point they stopped at in 2008.
Ra'fat said Washington, which leads indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, press on the Palestinian leadership "on daily basis" to expand the proximity discussions to direct negotiations.
"Despite the U.S. pressure, it is impossible to accept the American requests without making an achievement in meeting the Arab and Palestinian demands," Ra'fat told Voice of Palestine radio.
The indirect negotiations, better known as proximity talks, started in May and are scheduled to end in September. However, the Palestinians say there has not been any progress on the borders and security; the two issues the proximities tackle.