| GEO World | Palestinians agree to resume peace talks with Israel | Updated at: 0316 PST, Saturday, August 21, 2010
RAMALLAH: Leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organisation on Saturday voted to accept a US invitation to Washington peace talks with the Israelis, a top Palestinian official said.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, told reporters after a session of the PLO's policy-making executive committee ended shortly after midnight that the Palestinians had accepted the invitation.
"The PLO executive committee announces its acceptance of a resumption of direct negotiations with Israel, in accordance with the statement by the international Middle East Quartet and the invitation by the United States," he said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier announced in Washington that Israel and the Palestinians would resume direct peace talks on September 2, striving for a deal within a year to create an independent Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already welcomed the US invitation to restart direct talks.
Abed Rabbo read out a communique from the PLO central committee, which groups the main Palestinian groups but excludes the Islamist Hamas ruling in the Gaza Strip. |  | | | |
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