Erekat has not been invited to Washington

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat has not yet received an official invitation to Washington to meet with his Israeli counterpart, President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman said Monday. "We are awaiting an invitation by Washington to both a Palestinian and an Israeli delegation to discuss the unresolved details," Nabil Abu Rdeina told Reuters. When Erekat goes to the Washington, he will first set a framework for future negotiations, Abu Rdeina said. "If agreement is reached on these details in line with the Palestinian demands, resuming negotiations will be announced," he added. US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators had agreed to meet to prepare a resumption of direct peace talks, stalled since 2010. Through Kerry, Abbas has requested that Israel recognizes the two-state solution based on 1967 borders as well as clarification on Israel's agreement to release Palestinian prisoners as a good will gesture, Abu Rdeina said. Abbas said any future peace deal with Israel will be put to a referendum, in remarks published Monday in the Jordanian government-owned Al-Rai newspaper. "The United States is serious about reaching a political solution to the Palestinian cause by establishing a Palestinian state on 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital." He added: "Any security solution must permanently get Israel out of Palestinian land, while the Jewish state has the right to preserve its security within its borders, with the approval of neighboring countries." "We want a two-state solution and this idea exists among the US administration. But until now we have not achieved anything." The last round of direct peace talks between Israel and the PLO broke down in 2010 over the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Kerry on Friday gave away very little about the initial agreement. Israeli officials have hailed it as a "success" as it did not entail the Palestinian "preconditions" of a freeze on settlement construction or the pre-1967 borders as a basis for negotiations. But Abbas has repeatedly stressed his demands for a freeze on settlement building on occupied land and release of prisoners held by Israel must be met before the talks can resume. "We stress our position that settlements have been illegal since 1967," Abbas said in the interview published on Monday.