A top Palestinian official claimed they were ready to resume peace talks "without delay" on condition that Israel sticks to signed agreements and international resolutions.
Mr Ahmed Abdel Rahman, Cabinet secretary, was responding to remarks by Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres urging the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table and urging Mr Yasser Arafat to stop months of violence.
"We too are ready to resume negotiations without delay, but on the basis of an Israeli commitment to international resolutions and signed agreements and the continuation of negotiations from where they left off," he said.
"The situation is worrying because Peres is frantically trying to cover up Sharon's military campaign against the Palestinian people," the Palestinian official said.
An estimated 440 people have been killed, most of them Palestinians, in almost six months of deadly violence while a choking Israeli blockade on the West Bank and Gaza Strip has crippled the Palestinian economy and thrown thousands out of work.
Yesterday Mr Peres met Egyptian President Mr Hosni Mubarak, Jordanian Foreign Minister Mr Abdel Ilah al-Khatib and Swedish Mr Prime Minister Goeran Persson, German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schroeder and EU external affairs commissioner Mr Chris Patten.
"Peres called on all of them to intervene to convince Arafat to reduce the violence and halt the direct involvement of the Palestinian Authority in terrorist activities," an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said.
AFP