Jerusalem -Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an unprecedented written peace proposal to outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert last December, the Palestinian's chief negotiator claimed on Monday. The document, sent to Washington with chief negotiator Saeb Erekat on a previously secret mission on December 18, came to nothing when Olmert failed to respond in writing, Erekat told reporters.

He said Olmert responded to Abbas' proposal, which included a far-reaching offer on all of the core issues of the conflict, including borders, only by making public statements - but not in writing, as requested.

The Palestinians insisted on a written agreement, Erekat said, because they had learned from the botched peace summit at Camp David of July 2000.

"Annapolis agreement did not fail," Erekat told a news conference with foreign correspondents in Jerusalem, referring to the 2007 peace process convened by then US President George W. Bush.

He said Abbas had planned to bring the written agreement to a public referendum, but the war in Gaza in the final days of the Olmert government scuppered that plan.

"We came too close in (the) Annapolis (process). We turned every possible stone. Yes it's true we didn't reach an agreement, because instead of meeting us in Washington on January 3 to put the maps on the table as was agreed, Mr Olmert just went to Gaza," Erekat told reporters at a press conference.

"We no longer need negotiations. We need decisions and decisions are not made by negotiators, they are made by leaders," he said.

Olmert had previously accused Abbas of refusing to accept a far-reaching offer Israel had made, because he said the Palestinians were weary of committing to a deal with an outgoing premier as Israel was heading into elections.

"There was a proposal of Mr Olmert. There was a proposal from President Abbas, but this time we learned from what happened in Camp David. We submitted ours in writing, Olmert talked. I went to the US secretly and handed what we proposed in writing," he said.

"History will show that president Abbas is a man of courage and commitment," he said, adding he was under oath not to go into the details of the submitted proposal.