GAZA CITY, Feb 1: The Palestinian leadership is ready to discuss a general ceasefire with the Israelis and immediately restart peace talks under the guidance of the so-called Quartet, it said in a statement on Saturday.

“The Palestinian leadership said it was ready to conclude a general ceasefire agreement in all the regions and restart negotiations as soon as possible under the aegis of the quartet,” the leadership said after its meeting on Friday in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The quartet on Middle East peace — the United States, European Union, Russia, and the United Nations — is due to propose a peace plan expected to call for a Palestinian state by 2005 and guarantees of Israeli security.

The leadership also said it was “surprised at the negative response of the Israeli government which has rejected a call for a relaunching of dialogue and prefers the road of military escalation”.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has been a virtual prisoner in Ramallah for 14 months and diplomatically isolated by Israel, has twice this week expressed his willingness to meet re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, but has been rebuffed. The leadership finally gave its backing to a dialogue between Palestinian factions last month in Cairo.—AFP