The International community urged Israel and the Palestinians to keep their exploratory Jordanian- sponsored meetings after the Palestinians announced that the time- out for these talks had finished on Thursday, a well-informed Palestinians source said.

The source, who spoke in condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that despite the pressure on the two sides, resuming Amman meetings are still weak, adding that the European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton proposed to President Mahmoud Abbas to continue with these meetings for another month.

"President Abbas also received the same offer from Russian officials when he met in Moscow this week. The idea of the EU and Russia is to continue the exploratory meetings in order to achieve a breakthrough that leads to the resumption of the stalled peace talks between the two sides," said the source.

Representatives of the International Quartet for Mideast peace, which comprises Russia, the EU, the United States and the United Nations, are scheduled to meet in Munich on February 3 to find a way to resume the direct peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The source announced that the talks with Israel had run out and achieved no results, adding that the Israeli side is still rejecting the Palestinian demand of halting settlement activities and recognize an independent Palestinian state established on the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

Abbas will travel to Cairo on February 4 to meet with the foreign ministers of the Arab League Follow-Up Committee for Peace, said the source, adding that President Abbas will brief them on the situation of the recent talks held with Israel "in order to come out with a joint decision on what is next."

Earlier on Thursday, Palestinian officials announced that the time-out of the exploratory meetings that were held in Amman since January has ended on January 26. The Quartet had given Israel and the Palestinians a three-month time to find a way to resume the stalled peace negotiations.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will be arriving in the region next week in the frame of the international efforts to resume the talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli officials said they hope Ban will be able to pressure on the Palestinian side to resume the stalled talks.

Israeli Radio on Thursday quoted unidentified sources as saying that Israel was encouraged by Jordanian foreign minister's statements, in which he said that Amman exploratory meetings "were clear, serious and honest despite the differences between the two sides."

The sources also revealed that Israel is holding contacts with foreign and European parts to convince the Palestinians to get back to the negotiations table. The Palestinian sources, however, said that Jordan asked the Palestinians not to make any official announcement that exploratory meetings were halted.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on the Palestinians not to blow up the talks. He told the Knesset, or parliament, according to several Israeli media reports, the talks are still continuing despite the difficulties they (Palestinians) are putting."

"I hope the Palestinians understand that their interest is in keeping the track of the negotiations because through the peace talks at the end we can finally achieve a real progress in settling the conflict and resolving it," Netanyahu told the Knesset members.

Wassel Abu Yousef, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) slammed Netanyahu's statement, adding that "it is obvious that Netanyahu doesn't want any talks with the Palestinians, when he escaped from presenting a full view on the issues of borders and security."

"The International parties, mainly the European Union, reiterated their interests in opening a new political margin in the region. I believe that this would be very difficult as Israel rejects to halt settlement activities and recognize the borders of the Palestinian state," said Abu Yousef.

He expressed his strong believe that the Palestinian leadership would reject the offer of extending the period of the exploratory meetings in Jordan, adding that the alternative "is to get back to the Palestinian strategy by succeeding the internal reconciliation and go to the international organizations of the UN."

The Palestinians had rebuffed during Amman meetings an Israeli document presented to the Palestinian side that includes 21 points. The Palestinians said the Israeli points were vague and didn't include a clear Israeli vision on resolving the two major permanent status issues of borders and security.