PA President Mahmoud Abbas (right) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Photo: wiki commons.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer to resume negotiations without preconditions on Sunday, prolonging the impasse in the peace process, Israel Hayom reported.

The decision to reject Israel’s proposal to return to negotiations sours hopes for the resumption of peace talks between the Palestinians and Netanyahu, who just last week, put together one of the most unified governments in Israeli history by bringing in the main opposition party, Kadima.

Netanyahu’s alliance with the centrist Kadima Party raised speculation that he might make a more generous proposal to the Palestinians now that he no longer has to rely on hard-line nationalists to keep his governing coalition intact.

Netanyahu’s proposal, as well as Israel’s demands for security arrangements that would need to be agreed upon as part of any final peace deal, were presented in an official letter delivered to Abbas in Ramallah on Sunday by the prime minister’s special envoy for peace talks, attorney Yitzhak Molcho.