Jordan will host another meeting of Israeli and Palestinian officials, the second in a week but Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused the Palestinians of poor faith in peacemaking.
The meeting in Amman was the first since direct talks stalled in late 2010, when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas demanded a halt to settlement construction before negotiations went any further.
Lieberman told the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, that the Palestinians only agreed to resume contacts last week after being "dragged against their will" to Amman.
"They are preparing a groundwork of excuses to shift responsibility for the talks' failure to Israel," Lieberman said, according to an official transcript of the parliamentary briefing.
Unlike the meeting last week, this time representatives of the Quartet – the US, EU, Russia and UN – will not be in attendance.
The talks between chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli envoy Yitzhak Molcho will take place at the foreign ministry in Amman.
PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo said that if no progress was achieved by January 26, the Palestinian Authority would resume its efforts to gain Palestinian membership in the UN.
Last autumn the Quartet gave Israelis and Palestinians three months to present comprehensive proposals on security and border issues. That deadline expires on January 26.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton last week called on Israel and the Palestinians "to build on this promising first meeting and continue to work toward a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East." "The EU remains fully committed to do all it can to contribute to the resolution of the conflict," she said.