PLO secretary-general Yasser Abedrabbo said the PLO gave its acceptance in compliance with the statement issued by the international quartet and the invitation made by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
It stressed that the PLO's meeting was held at the request of the American administration and its decision does not represent the national consensus and the vast majority of the Palestinian people.
For his part, Palestinian lawmaker and head of the Palestinian national initiative Mustafa Al-Barghouthi warned that the Palestinian Authority's involvement in negotiation with Israel without freezing settlement construction and finding a framework for the direct talks would lead to a failure larger and more dangerous than what happened in Camp David accords in 2000.
The international quartet parroted in its statement the same statements it previously issued in this regard in the Italian city of Trieste in June 26, 2009, New York September 24, 2009 and Moscow March 19, 2010.
The statement reiterated that the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations should resolve all outstanding issues about the final status and lead to a settlement within 24 months, that ends the occupation which started in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian State living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.
The Quartet also called on both sides to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric, especially in areas of cultural and religious sensitivity.
In this regard, diplomatic sources said that the international quartet would launch the negotiations between Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli occupation in early September in Washington.
They added that the quartet, which is composed of the US, the European Union, Russia and the UN, agreed on the details of the Palestinian-Israeli talks on Thursday and would issue a statement on this later on Friday.
The New York Times also said that US president Barack Obama would invite Abbas and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington in early September in order to discuss the final status issues.
Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said on Friday that his movement rejects the U.S. call for direct negotiations between the Oslo team in Ramallah and the Israeli occupation to start in Washington early September.
"We in the Hamas movement reject the U.S. call to resume the Israeli-Palestinian talks," Abu Zuhri said considering this call and any of its consequences as "not binding to the Palestinian people."
He added, in a press statement, that this call is no more than another attempt at deceiving the Palestinian people similar to the Annapolis conference in 2007 when the Palestinian were promised a Palestinian state within a year, but the result after years was going to starting point.
He also said that since the U.S. call even ignored the issue of a freeze on settlement activity, going to such negotiations lends legitimacy to settlements.
The U.S. secretary of state Hilary Clinton announced on Friday the resumption of direct peace talks in Washington on 2 September with the participation of President Husni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah II of Jordan with the aim of reaching an agreement "within a year".
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
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