RAMALLAH, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Monday that senior U.S. envoys would visit Israel and the Palestinian territories later this week.

    Erekat told the "Voice of Palestine" radio that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams as well as special envoy of the Quartet Committee James Wolfensohn would arrive in the region on Thursday or Friday to hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

    The Quartet Committee, which groups the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, has been a long time mediator over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

    The meeting with the envoys would discuss recent statement by Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he intended to fix the borders with the Palestinians by 2010 via unilateral steps and would seek U.S. support for such moves, said Erekat.

    The senior Palestinian official called on Washington to reject such proposals.

    "Nobody in the world can determine the Palestinian borders except the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)," he said.

    The PLO is considered the long-time representative of the Palestinian people.

    In addition, Erekat said that the Palestinian officials would urge the international envoys during the meeting to respect the Palestinian people's democratic choice of electing the Islamic Resistance Movement in the January legislative elections and not to impose sanctions on the Palestinians.

    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier that the final borders between Israel and the Palestinians should be resulted from negotiations of final status issues between the two sides.

    The visit of the envoys will come after Israel holds its general elections on Tuesday, in which Olmert's centrist Kadima party is tipped to win.

    Meanwhile, the Palestinian parliament convened a three-day session on Monday to debate the Hamas-led cabinet and its government agenda.

    The legislature, in which Hamas holds an outright majority, is expected to approve the new cabinet.

    Hamas calls for Israel's destruction and has rejected demands by the Quartet Committee to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and accept interim peace deals. Enditem