Related: Israel steps up military operations in W. Bank 

   JERUSALEM, Oct. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Israel rejected a Palestinian proposal to open negotiations on the latter's final status, local newspaper The Jerusalem Post said Sunday.

   The proposal is aimed at circumventing the US-brokered road map peace plan and jumping to final status talks before Palestinian authorities disarm militants and dismantle militant groups, the paper quoted a security source as saying.

   The Israeli government decided to suspend all contact with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) after three Israelis were killed by Palestinian gunmen last week, said the paper.

   PNA chairman Mahmoud Abbas proposed to the United States, during his recent tour to Washington, to open back door negotiations on a final status. 

   Palestinian sources said during the meeting between Abbas and US President George W. Bush, Washington did not press Abbas on its demand of disarming Hamas before legislative elections in January, neither did it request candidates to denounce terror, according the paper.

   Abbas told Bush that he had no intention of forming a coalition with Hamas after the January elections, and for that reason there was no chance that the United States would have to deal with elected Hamas officials holding cabinet positions.

   The official US view on the issue now is that while the Americans want to see Hamas disarmed, the question of how to deal with the armed groups should be left in the hands of the PNA.

   Earlier Friday, a senior US official said the question of Hamas participation in the Palestinian elections was a tricky one and all sides were struggling to find a way to stick to the principles of democracy and at the same time acknowledged the situation on the ground.

   The official stressed that confronting armed groups was an obligation the PNA has to undertake, adding that it was up to Abbas and his government to decide how to act on this demand.

   Abbas has been urged by the United States and Israel to disarm Hamas, a radical militant group with a surging street popularity.

   Hamas, which is a driving force behind the five-year Palestinian uprising against Israel but has largely abided by a de facto truce since March, has decided to participate in the Jan. 25 parliamentary elections to gain more political clout.

   Hamas' intention to take part in the elections have raised many brows in Israel, with its Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowing not to facilitate the elections in the occupied areas if Hamas participates before it is disarmed. 

   While presenting the issue of disarming Hamas as a "road map obligation", the senior US official said there was no "moral equivalency" between that obligation and Israel's obligations to dismantle outposts and freeze settlement activities.  Enditem