Nabil Shaath, a member of Palestinian negotiations team, told the Voice of Palestine radio that the Palestinian negotiating team turned down Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to discuss the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state during the upcoming round of peace talks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh next week.

Shaath said the Palestinian leadership "won't expose our people to security and political threats."

He said the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state would harm Arab Palestinians inside Israel and negate the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

The Palestinian negotiator said any future peace agreement with Israel would be brought before the Palestinian people in a referendum.

"If we're on the verge of a peace agreement, we will need complete unity," he said.

Meanwhile, the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the PA rejected Israel's proposal to keep the Jewish occupiers living in the West Bank when an independent Palestinian state is established.

On Wednesday, the American World.net daily had reported that Netanyahu had sent a secret proposal to US President Barack Obama to let some occupiers live in the future Palestinian state.

"Stopping the settlement construction is Israel's commitment," Erekat said.

The Israeli government's 10-month moratorium on settlement construction will expire on Sept. 26. However, most of the Israeli right-wing parties in the coalition announced that they would oppose the extension of the moratorium.