Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will offer a Palestinian delegation to upgrade Mideast peace negotiations to direct talks, to be led by Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a source in the Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Abbas told an unofficial Israeli delegation that the Palestinian Authority will renew its efforts to win UN recognition for a Palestinian state if it does not receive a positive response from Israel to its positions on a prospective peace deal.

Abbas gave Netanyahu a month to respond to the Palestinian positions, which will be laid out in a letter to be delivered to Netanyahu next Wednesday during a meeting in Jerusalem with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

“It won’t be just a letter,” Abbas said, according to a source present at the meeting. “I also intend to turn to the public in Israel and around the world, and present the Palestinian positions regarding a peace agreement with Israel.”

However, according Netanyahu aides on Wednesday, Netanyahu intends, during his planned meeting with a Fayyad, to upgrade peace talks to direct talks, led by himself and Abbas.

In addition, sources said that the premier’s envoy Isaac Molho will also convey the message in a meeting with Abbas, scheduled to take place days after the arrival of the Palestinian delegation to Jerusalem, in which he will receive the Palestinian letter.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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