A senior Palestinian official said Saturday that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is seeking new peace ideas from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who will arrive in the region on Sunday.

Riyad al-Malki, minister of foreign affairs of the PNA, told a news conference in Ramallah with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird that Kerry will hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday evening. The meeting is the third of its kind since Feb. 20.

"We are ready to listen to new peace ideas and the new issues that Kerry is bringing with him," said al-Malki.

Kerry will arrive in Israel Sunday. He will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and later with Abbas in Ramallah in a bid to resume the stalled Mideast peace talks.

For his part, Baird urged the PNA to resume the direct peace talks with Israel with no preconditions.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian state-run news agency Wafa reported that Abbas asserted during his meeting with Baird that halting settlement and the release of prisoners detained before the ink of Oslo accords in 1993 are necessity for resuming the peace process. Endi

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