RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP/Reuters) - The Palestinians agreed on Sunday to give indirect peace talks with Israel a chance after months of US-led efforts to lure both sides back to the negotiating table. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, announced the Palestinians would embark on US-mediated talks but expressed deep scepticism over the prospects of success. The Palestinian leadership has decided to give an opportunity for the American suggestion to hold indirect talks between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, Abed Rabbo told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. But he went on to cite a list of Israeli violations of previous agreements, led by the continuing expansion of settlements that he said would make direct negotiations impossible and could scupper the indirect talks. The PLO Executive Committee, giving President Mahmoud Abbas the go-ahead to end a 15-month hiatus in talks, said they must focus on security and borders of the state Palestinians want to set up in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The decision, taken at a PLO executive committee meeting in Ramallah, came as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell was meeting with Israeli leaders on his latest trip to the region. Mitchell met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for over two hours Sunday afternoon, in what a statement from Netanyahus office characterised as a good conversation. If there is a desire to get to direct talks through a corridor then I think the sooner the better, Netanyahu, referring to US-mediated proximity talks, told reporters at the start of his meeting with Mitchell. The statement said the two would meet again on Monday, before Mitchell goes to Ramallah for talks with the Palestinian leadership. US Vice President Joe Biden is also expected this week. The Palestinians approval was expected after Arab foreign ministers last week expressed grudging support for the talks, following months of shuttle diplomacy by Mitchell. Abed Rabbo, the PLO secretary general, said the indirect talks would be limited to four months as proposed by the Arab ministers and should focus first on final borders. The Arab position was clear. If there is no real progress within four months, there are different options, including going directly to the UN Security Council, he said. The Hamas, which opposes any talks with Israel and rules Gaza, is not a member of the PLO, an umbrella group that includes president Mahmud Abbass Fatah party and several smaller factions. Palestinian officials had expressed doubts about the talks ahead of the PLO meeting but said they did not want to be seen as hindering US-led efforts to revive peace talks suspended during the December 2008-January 2009 Gaza war. We think its unlikely that these indirect negotiations with the Netanyahu government will succeed, senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said. But we want to give an opportunity to the US administration to continue its efforts, Ahmad told AFP. On Sunday, Israels Haaretz newspaper cited a government memo as saying the Jewish state expected little pressure from the Obama administration ahead of US congressional elections in November. In our assessment, the administration will focus in the coming year on domestic issues that are expected to determine the results of the congressional elections, it said, quoting an internal foreign ministry memo. As such, and due to the difficulties to date in achieving significant gains in the peace process, we can assume that the administrations focus on this issue will be limited. It is difficult to believe that the mediator is going to succeed in bridging the deep chasms that separate them, wrote Shimon Shiffer in Israels top-selling daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Sources on both sides have said they expect Mitchell to secure agreement on a format for talks between negotiators to begin fairly soon, possibly in Washington or elsewhere abroad.