Speaking in Paris after talks this week with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Abbas told journalists on Friday, "So far the Americans have not been able to put these ideas into a framework, even if the efforts are extremely serious".

After meeting with Abbas, French President Francois Hollande said he had underlined the need "to reach an agreed framework for negotiations in a timely manner".

Abbas met with Kerry twice in Paris this week in what a US official described as "constructive" talks.

The top US diplomat has spent months trying to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to agree on a framework to guide talks towards a full "peace treaty," but the negotiations have shown little sign of progress.

A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday that ideas proposed by Kerry in Paris could not be accepted "as the basis for a framework accord... as they do not take into account the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people".

The last Palestinian-Israeli talks were halted in September 2010 after the Tel Aviv regime refused to freeze its settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds.

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds and the Gaza Strip, demanding Israelis’ withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds and the rights of Palestinians to return their lands.

NTJ/MB