Ramallah - The Palestinian Authority rejected an Israeli offer to withdraw from more than 93 per cent of the occupied West Bank because the remaining 7 per cent would divide the Palestinian Territories, Palestinian newspapers reported Saturday.

Israel wanted to annex four settlement blocs spread throughout the West Bank which would mean that "the most important territories will be annexed by Israel and the rest will not allow the formation of a Palestinian entity," Ahmad Qureia, head of the Palestinian negotiating team with Israel, said in a special interview with three newspapers.

The interview was the first time a senior Palestinian official had revealed details about the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations launched after the Annapolis, Maryland, conference convened a year ago.

The two sides have agreed to keep progress in the talks secret, but Qureia said the negotiations had stopped as Israel prepared for new elections scheduled for February
10.

Qureia also said that his Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, had refused to discuss the issue of East Jerusalem even though the Palestinians had brought it up in the negotiations.

Qureia said Israel had also offered to take in 5,000 Palestinian refugees over five years, which Qureia described as "a joke and not a solution."

He said outgoing Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert first suggested annexing 7.3 per cent of the West Bank then dropped this figure to 6.8 per cent suggesting also swapping territories in return for this.

"We have rejected this offer outright," he said, explaining that some of the settlements Israel wants to annex, such as Ariel, go as deep as 22 kilometres into the West Bank and others, such as Ma'ale Adumim, Givat Ze'ev and Gosh Etzion, divide the West Bank into enclaves and separate them from occupied East Jerusalem.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to travel to the US on Friday for a farewell meeting with President George W Bush, Palestinian officials said. He will then travel to Moscow for talks with Russian officials.

At the same time, the international quartet for Middle East peace is scheduled to meet on Monday in New York, while the UN Security Council will also discuss the Middle East issue and the Palestinian- Israeli talks on Tuesday. (dpa)