DOHA-RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Palestinian sources described as "authentic" have revealed on Saturday that PA chief Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli premier Ehud Olmert have reached a "framework agreement" that abandons sensitive Palestinian issues.

According to the sources, the agreement included 12 items, and is expected to be declared to the public before the end of this year, adding that the agreement would compromise the Palestinian people right to return to their homeland, and cedes most of the occupied city of Jerusalem.

The sources also added that the deal could be announced ahead of the US election this coming November in order to give big push forward to the US-presidency aspirant Republican candidate John McCain.

The Qatar-based Al-Sharq newspaper quoted the sources as asserting that the new deal was contradicting earlier statements from Ahmed Qurie, the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, and Saeb Erikat, the chief PLO negotiator, alleging that the negotiations with the Israelis weren’t progressing and almost reached a deadlock.

The sources opined that the statements of the two PA officials were meant to ward off anticipated opposition from the Palestinian public to such an agreement.

According to terms of the agreement, the Israeli occupation government would allow 15000-20000 Palestinian refugees (out of the 5 million Palestinian refugees who were driven out of their homes at gunpoint 60 years ago) to return to their birthplaces without their offspring, and that the process would take 10 years to be completed.

According to the sources, "Abbas used to say to his associates: If you want a Palestinian state, then you should forget about the right of return [of the Palestinian refugees]", which harmonizes with earlier statements uttered by the PA chief during an interview with the Hebrew Haaretz newspaper where he affirmed that he wouldn’t insist on the return of the 5 million refugees because he understands Israel's "sensitivity" to the issue, and that he was discussing with the Israelis the figure of the Palestinian refugee who would be allowed to return to occupied Palestine.

Moreover, the sources disclosed, based on the framework agreement, that the Israeli occupation government would retain 5% of the West Bank land (excluding Jerusalem) in exchange to land it would cede to the Palestinians to establish a route linking Gaza Strip with the West Bank.

Furthermore, the sources underlined that both Abbas and Olmert agreed that "Israel" would keep big Israeli settlements like Ma'ale Adomim, east of Jerusalem, in exchange to lands it would "turn" to the Palestinians in the Negev desert, and which will be later on annexed to the area of the Gaza Strip.

However, the issue of the occupied city of Jerusalem remained as the biggest obstacle in the way of the agreement as Israeli war minister Ehud Barak refusing to negotiate Jerusalem in the first place, while Olmert reportedly agrees to turn over a number of Arab enclaves in Jerusalem for the Palestinians to establish their future capital.

The sources also revealed that US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice who arrived to occupied Palestine a couple of weeks ago, had asked Olmert and Abbas to do their best in order to reach the "frame deal" before the end of this year.