Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chairs a meeting of the Fatah party's executive committee in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

By MOHAMMED MAR’I/ARAB NEWS

Published: Mar 7, 2010 10:02 PM Updated: Mar 7, 2010 10:02 PM

RAMALLAH: A senior Palestinian official on Sunday said that the PLO Executive Committee endorsed the resumption of indirect peace talks with Israel.

The official told Arab News at the end of the PLO's Executive Committee meeting in Ramallah that the decision-making body "gave (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas the green light to resume the indirect peace talks with Israel."

On Saturday night, the Fatah's Central Committee also authorized Abbas to restart the stalling peace talks, the official added.

Meanwhile, the US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell will meet Abbas in Ramallah on Monday to receive the PA's final response to the US proposal on resuming the indirect talks.

Israeli media sources said that the indirect talks were expected to be launched Sunday in a meeting between Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mitchell arrived in the region on Saturday to discuss with Israeli and Palestinian leadership the resumption of the talks. Upon his arrival, Mitchell met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv. The meeting was defined by Barak as "excellent.”

However, the foreign ministers of the Arab League announced in Cairo Wednesday they were supporting the American initiative for indirect negotiations, qualifying their support with a four-month deadline. They said no progress would be possible without a complete settlement freeze.

The US has been pushing for the resumption of talks primarily through the shuttle diplomacy of Mitchell, who is expected to continue as a go-between in the indirect negotiations.

In November, under heavy US pressure, Netanyahu persuaded his Cabinet to authorize an unprecedented 10-month settlement construction slowdown. But Israel continues to build 3,000 apartments that were authorized before, and construction in east Jerusalem has not been restricted.

Mitchell proposed a four-month indirect peace negotiations between Israel and PA sponsored by US administration. Abbas had asked for guarantees that Israel would be committed to the outcomes of the talks.

On the ground, Israeli forces closed the Atarah checkpoint, a bottleneck separates Ramallah governorate from the north, south and eastern areas of the West Bank.

Palestinian security sources said that the Israeli soldiers closed the checkpoint, built on the northern edge of Birzeit town, after students from the town clashed with soldiers manning the checkpoint.

The sources added that several students suffered from tear gas inhalation after the soldier used teargas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets to disperse the protesters.

Also in the West Bank, around 100 Palestinians clashed with Israeli soldiers during an anti-Israeli settlements demonstration in the city of Beit Jala.

Palestinian sources said that three Palestinian journalists were wounded from rubber-coated metal bullets.

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