A senior Palestinian official on Monday rejected Israel's accusations that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the United States should be responsible for the failure of direct peace talks, Xinhua reported.
The accusations are Israel's attempt to cover its fault, Mohammed Eshtaya, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, was quoted by voice of Palestine radio.
"The whole world realizes that Israel preferred settlement to peace," he said.
Eshtaya, also a member of the Palestinian negotiation delegation, said that Washington has made "some efforts" to keep the peace talks going on, and it is, at the same time, fully aware of the fact that Israel is behind the suspension of peace negotiations.
The Israeli Marriv newspaper published Sunday a clandestine document set by the Israeli Foreign Ministry in which it held the United States responsible for the failure of the direct negotiations with the Palestinians.
Israel said that the insistence of the U.S. administration on ceasing settlement construction, the way it dealt with this issue and its full support to the Palestinian position were the main reasons why peace discussions stopped, according to the newspaper.
The official said that the PNA would not accept a one-month freeze on settlement construction in trade to resume the stalled direct talks with Israel.
The Palestinian leadership declared on Oct. 2 that it would not resume direct talks with Israel after the latter refused to extend a moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank which expired on Sept. 26. Foreign ministers of the Arab nations decided to support the PNA's decision during the Arab League's (AL) follow- up committee on Friday.
The committee gave the U.S administration one month to evaluate the situation and convince Israel to halt settlement construction on the Palestinian territories.