20:04
Tieng Anh Vui
Palestinian leaders have been meeting in Ramallah in the West Bank to discuss a possible revival in peace talks with Israel, brokered by the United States.
They have been briefed on the latest American proposal by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The talks involving the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) have now been temporarily adjourned.
Earlier the US Secretary of State John Kerry extended his visit to the Middle East amid signs of progress.
He agreed to stay in the Jordanian capital, Amman, for an extra night.
The US State Department then acknowledged that Kerry was unlikely to be able to announce a breakthrough on his latest visit.
"There are currently no plans for an announcement on the resumption of negotiations," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
There is a growing flurry of predictions that US Secretary of State John Kerry may get Israeli and Palestinian negotiators back to the table.
However settlements are still a major stumbling block. As Mr Kerry shuttles, Israel keeps announcing plans and permits for new homes.
Through endless hours of face-to-face talks and telephone conversations, aides from all sides are trying to put together a detailed plan of incentives and commitments.
But it still comes down to the political will of Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Even if they do sit down around a table again, there is the bigger question of whether they will ultimately succeed in closing a deal, at last. On that, all bets are off the table for now.
The priority now is just getting to the table.
Mr Kerry has not given details of his plan to revive direct peace talks, which stalled nearly three years ago. However, he has met Mr Abbas in Jordan twice in the past two days.
After a meeting in Amman, the Arab League supported the latest US proposals saying they "provide the ground and a suitable environment to start negotiations".
This raised speculation that President Abbas's Fatah faction and senior members of the broader Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) would concur at meetings in Ramallah.
However, several members of Fatah central committee have already asked for changes to the US plan.
It is understood that the PLO committee will resume its meeting later on Thursday after the iftar meal that ends Muslims' dusk-to-dawn fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
Previously the Palestinians have demanded a freeze on Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem before a return to peace talks. They have also asked for negotiations about borders to be based on pre-1967 ceasefire lines.
Israel's coalition government, which includes pro-settler parties, has said there should be no preconditions.
It is widely reported in the Israeli media that Mr Kerry has presented a plan that includes the resumption of talks on pre-1967 lines with land swaps that take into account the major settlement blocs in the West Bank.
The reports suggest that, in return, Palestinians would recognise Israel as a Jewish state.
The Israeli prime minister's office has declined to comment.
On his Facebook page, Naftali Bennett, who leads the third biggest party in the Israeli governing coalition, rejected any such terms.
"The Jewish Home party under my leadership will not be a partner, not even for one second, in a government that agrees to negotiation based on 1967 lines," he said.
"Jerusalem, our capital, is not and will never be subject to negotiations."
Such a deal would also be extremely difficult for Palestinians to accept as it has serious implications for Palestinian refugees and the Israeli-Arab population.
The rights of Palestinian refugees, borders, settlements and the status of Jerusalem are all core issues in any final status peace agreement.
In recent months, John Kerry has paid six visits to the Middle East in an effort to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
He has said that time is running out for a two-state solution to their decades-old conflict.
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