"Meetings are now taking place between the US administration and us on the one hand, and between Israel and the US administration on the other hand," Erekat said.

Erekat also said none of the security ideas offered by the US to the two sides were written down, but rather expressed verbally so as to check the pulse to the proposals first.

A controversial proposal by the United States to allow Israeli troops to be stationed on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state was strongly rejected by the Arab League on Saturday.

The body said the proposal would only fulfill Israel’s plan of expansionism, adding that not one Israeli troop is allowed in Palestine.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine have been a major stumbling block to efforts aimed at establishing peace in the Middle East.

Israeli authorities recently announced plans to build thousands of more illegal settler units on Palestinian territory, despite the opposition of the UN and the international community.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Convention, which forbids construction on occupied lands.

SHI/SHI