Yasser Abed Rabbo, the secretary-general of PLO's Executive Committee, told a news conference after the meeting that the Palestinian decision” is based on guarantees and assurances it received from the United States regarding the (Israeli) settlement activity and the necessity to stop it." The decision is also based "on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the road map peace plan and the Arab Peace Initiative," he added.

The United States welcomed the decision. "It is an important and welcome step," US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

Yasser Abed Rabbo said the proximity talks would tackle the issues of borders, refugees and Jerusalem. The talks will be mediated by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell who will shuttle between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Washington offered to mediate the negotiations in an attempt to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that has stalled for 18 months over a dispute on expansion of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian land.

Abed Rabbo said the PLO accepted the US offer on condition that Israel stop "any form of construction in East Jerusalem" after Washington promised to “take procedures against any provocations."

He said the Palestinians defined the expression "provocations" as building new settlements or expanding the existing blocs.

On Thursday, Abbas said the US had assured him no "acts of provocation" would occur during the indirect talks, which the Palestinian Authority insists includes any Israeli construction beyond the Green Line. Abbas admitted, however, that the Palestinian Authority did not receive any specific assurance regarding construction in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

Last week, the Arab League, which held a meeting of foreign ministers of its member states in Cairo, extended its support for proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for a period of four months.

The first attempt to get the indirect talks going was aborted soon after it began in March when Israel announced a new settlement project in West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.

Disagreements between the two sides remain substantial. The Palestinians want the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a reluctant latecomer to the idea of Palestinian statehood, has said he won't give up East Jerusalem or key areas of the West Bank, and has put strict security conditions.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said in a statement that it rejects the resumption of the proximity talks with Israel. "Resuming the talks is a violation of the Palestinian national consensus."