Kerry to say his peace

US secretary of State John Kerry hopes to propose a blueprint within a month that would guide talks on a peace treaty between Israelis and Palestinians, the US ambassador to Israel said.

Kerry's private discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had made him optimistic about resolving their differences, ambassador Daniel Shapiro said in a radio interview.

In the initial deal, "we have to resolve several key questions that are at the heart of the conflict", Shapiro said. "It has to be more than just, say, an interim agreement."

The secretary of state set a nine-month limit when he arranged the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at the end of July. He had travelled to the region 10 times to try to coax a deal from the two leaders and planned to return soon, Shapiro said.

US officials have said a framework agreement would offer a shared vision of what peace would look like and would be followed by further talks to reach a final treaty.

The secretary-general of Abbas's office, Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, said he had delivered a letter from the president to the Arab League, describing what Kerry sought in a framework agreement.

Palestinian officials say Kerry's optimism has little basis. "There is still a big gap between the positions," Hana Amara, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's decision-making executive committee, said.

Amara is among officials who have expressed strong opposition to Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state. Such a step, they say, would weaken the rights of Israel's Arab citizens, who make up about 20% of the population, and would damage the claims of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in Israel. Netanyahu says recognition would avert all Palestinian claims against Israel in the future.

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon agreed there were "big gaps", while adding: "It's definitely in our interest to continue the talks and to continue to act, to stabilise the situation and relations between us and the Palestinians."