The former Israeli Premier had rejected a peace plan by the Palestinian Authority and instead launched its offensive against Gaza, a Palestinian official says.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, said Tuesday that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blocked the peace process between the Palestinian Authority and Israel after he rejected an "excellent" long-term peace plan in late December.

Speaking at al-Quds University in Jerusalem, Erekat said acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas had given a written peace plan to Olmert–a copy of which handed to former US president George W. Bush during Abbas’s December 18 visit to Washington.

According to the official, shortly afterwards, the Israeli military launched its deadly offensive which claimed over 1,350 Palestinian lives in the Gaza Strip, Yent reported.

Olmert declined to respond to the offer and instead decided to launch the deadly military operation, Erekat added.

Palestinian sources were quoted by the website as saying that the letter Erekat referring to was part of a series of documents which included a regular stance on the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and an exchange of territories.

(Press TV)