Israel’s Channel 2 reported Monday that Abbas seeks to test if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is really serious about holding such dialogs with Palestinians.

Direct PA-Israel talks broke down in late 2008 after Israel’s continued settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank, especially in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), prompted the Palestinian side to leave the negotiating table.

The Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestine have created a major obstacle to the Middle East peace process.

A report released last month revealed that the Israeli regime confiscated 1,977 acres of the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank for its settlement activity during 2012.

The settlements, which cover an area roughly equal to 1,035 soccer fields and twice as big as New York's Central Park, were approved by “military order,” the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on May 27.

More than half a million Israeli settlers 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.