A series of mutual accusations between Israeli and Palestinian representatives almost threatened to end a potential rapprochement between the sides in the latest of a series of talks being held in Amman, Jordan.

News of the clash was kept under wraps until Wednesday.

The disagreement occurred on Saturday over the refusal of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) envoy Saeb Erekat to accept a unscheduled briefing from a senior Israeli army official regarding Israel's demands for future security arrangements.

Erekat defended his rejection, claiming that Israels' position should be submitted officially in writing rather than in a presentation, and added that he is not authorized to discuss the issue.

Israel's representative to the talks Yitzhak Molcho, then slammed his counterpart's refusal, however, saying "if you are not authorized to discuss it maybe you should leave and bring someone else who is authorized instead," leaving the Jordanian hosts astonished, according to the Ha'aretz daily.

Israeli sources familiar with the content of the talks told Xinhua on Wednesday that the Palestinian refusal caught them by surprise, noting that there is no difference whether the Israeli positions are delivered verbally or in writing.

"Israel has brought its official positions to each one of discussions," the sources said.

Despite the disagreement, the fifth round of talks will be held on Wednesday, a day before the final Jan. 26 deadline previously set by the Middle East Quartet (the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia) for both sides to present their positions.

Palestinian officials have said that they reject Israeli requests to extend the exploratory talks beyond that date, making the likelihood of keeping the talk' momentum going after Wednesday unclear.

An Israeli official, however, countered that "the date isn't inflexible," adding that he believed that the timing would not pose an obstacle for the talks.

"The Palestinians are also aware of the 'blame game' in front of the international community in case the talks were to fail - and they don't want to be portrayed as being the recalcitrant ones, " he said.

While the official praised the talks continuation, but lowered the expectations of the final outcome, nothing that "we were not optimistic to begin with."

Catherine Ashton, the E.U.'s foreign policy chief, stressed in remarks made a visit to the area on Wednesday that the talks should continue.

"I am a realist about where we are but I am a passionate believer that we need to keep talks going and increase the potential of these talks to become genuine negotiations," Ashton said.

"So we are looking to see what we can do to help, but at the end this is a discussion that needs to take place between the two sides," she added, according to Israel National News.

The exploratory meetings started on Jan. 3 in the wake of a Quartet suggestion last October to find an avenue that would allow for the resumption of comprehensive peace talks.

Commenting on the Jordanian talks, an Israeli official said that "Israel is interested in negotiations and believes that a comprehensive agreement with the Palestinians can be reached within a year."