The Palestinian leadership have officially welcomed a Mideast peace "roadmap" drawn up by top world officials but said it wanted "a binding timeline" to ensure it is implemented.
The leadership also said it wanted international observers to be deployed in the territories to oversee its implementation.
"It is not possible to go forward as long as settlements are expanding on our land," said the leadership statement carried by the official WAFA news agency after a cabinet meeting in Ramallah.
"It is not possible to allow the peace process to depend on one individual or group that has no interest in peace or security," the statement said, referring to the hardline Israeli caretaker government in power until elections in early 2003.
The "roadmap" provides for a Palestinian state by 2005, and for a de facto Palestinian state to be established next year with provisional borders.
It was discussed with Arab governments by US envoy William Burns during a regional tour last month.
The leadership also said it wanted guarantees the plan will succeed, and "extends its hand" to any Israeli political party that wants peace.
US Middle East envoy David Satterfield is expected in Israel tomorrow and later in the Palestinian territories to discuss the "roadmap" - drawn up by the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations.
Earlier today, the Palestinian cabinet provisionally welcomed the roadmap but said it needed to hold further consultations with Arab states before giving a definitive response.
AFP