Israel welcomed a call by international mediators to resume peace talks with the Palestinians and urged President Mahmoud Abbas to do the same rather than pursue a UN bid for statehood recognition.

"Israel welcomes the Quartet call for direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions," read the statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Sunday.

"While Israel has some concerns, it will raise them at the appropriate time," the statement said. "Israel calls on the Palestinian Authority to do the same and to enter into direct negotiations."

Palestinian Authority responds

But the Palestinians quickly retorted that Israel could not say it had accepted the Quartet statement without announcing a halt to Israels settlement construction and a willingness to use the lines that existed before the 1967 Six Day War as a basis for negotiations on future borders.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, speaking to news agency AFP from Cairo, said the statement from Netanyahu's office was "an exercise in deceiving the international community."

"If he accepts the Quartet statement then he must announce a halt to settlement activity, including natural growth, and accept the principle of the 1967 borders because this is what was clearly demanded by the Quartet statement," he said.

Fixed dates

The proposal by the Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia - sets the end of 2012 as a deadline for an agreement.

It also calls for relaunching negotiations within a month, and says both sides need to make "significant progress" on the issues of borders and security before addressing other highly sensitive issues, such as the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

The call for peace talks, however, was interpreted differently by leaders in the Middle East. While Israel said the Quartet statement called for no preconditions, Palestinians maintained that a settlement freeze be put in place before talks could start.

After submitting an application for full Palestinian membership at the UN on September 23, Abbas said he would not negotiate with the Netanyahu government unless it stopped settlement activity and accepted the pre-1967 borders as the basis for talks.

The Israeli government has come under fire this week after announcing plans to expand settlements in Gilo, which is located near Jerusalem.

During a phone call with Netanyahu on Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had "no understanding" for the Israeli decision to approve the new settlements.

Author: Sean Sinico (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)

Editor: Ben Knight