JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel is mulling a US proposal for addressing key security concerns that would entail leasing swathes of the Jordan Valley from a future Palestinian state, army radio said on Monday. The radio quoted anonymous Israeli officials as saying Washington had suggested a seven-year lease. They said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not rejected the idea out of hand but was looking for a far longer period. Anything less than a 99-year lease is not worth talking about, an unnamed cabinet minister was quoted as saying. The Jordan Valley, which runs from the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea, is about 100 kilometres long. Around 80 percent of it runs through the occupied West Bank, and it also flanks the Israel-Jordan border. Netanyahu has said Israel must maintain a security presence along the border in a peace deal with the Palestinians to ensure heavy weapons are not smuggled into their state and to prevent a link-up with hostile military forces. The Palestinians have rejected any Israeli security presence in their future state but have said they would be open to foreign peacekeepers. No ideas have been presented to us about renting out Palestinian lands, and if this is offered to us we will not accept it, said Mohammed Shatayeh, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team. We consider this a trial balloon in the media and completely reject it. The premiers office would neither confirm nor deny Mondays report while a cabinet minister said he had no knowledge of such a proposal. I have no clue, said Welfare Minister Isaac Hertzog, who has observer status in Netanyahus inner security cabinet. Im saying it out loud, I dont know anything about it. However, Hertzog said he believed various formulas were being discussed in an effort to restart stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and that Netanyahus planned visit to the United States next week was likely to be key. I think that it will be a very important visit, Hertzog told a group of diplomats and foreign journalists. I hope that next week we will be able to see a formula that will enable us to move forward.