Palestinians defer decision on renewing peace talks - official

                     
Palestinian leaders on Thursday put off a decision about restarting peace talks with Israel, with most saying Israel must first meet their terms before negotiations can start, a Palestinian official said.
   
Qais Abdel-Karim, an official with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told Reuters after the meeting headed by President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank that a committee would convene on Friday to discuss the matter further.
   
"There is a general tendency among PLO officials to reject resuming negotiations before Israel recognises the 1967 borders as a base for the peace process and end (West Bank) settlement activity," Abel-Karim said.

This comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied an official's remarks that Israel had agreed to resume peace talks based on the borders of a Palestinian state being drawn along  lines from before a 1967 Middle East war, and agreed land swaps.    

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, said "the report is untrue," calling Reuters with the statement after initially declining to comment on what the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.    

The official had said that, were the Palestinians to accept the formula, it would be announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry now in Jordan, who would also describe the future Palestine as existing alongside a "Jewish state" of Israel.               

Earlier in the day, an Israeli official reported that Israel has agreed to a proposed formula for new peace talks with the Palestinians under which the border of their future state would be along the lines that existed before the 1967 Middle East war, but with agreed land swaps.