RAMALLAH, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't seek peace with the Palestinians but wants them to surrender to his plans.

Saeb Erekat, the secretary-general of Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, made the remarks in response to Netanyahu's statement.

Netanyahu said in a joint press conference held on Monday with Jared Kushner, senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, that "if we have to wait for the Palestinians to make peace, we will have to wait forever."

"If Netanyahu and Kushner want to make peace with the Palestinians while Jerusalem and its holy sites under Israel's sovereignty, they must wait until after the end of time and life," Erekat said in an emailed press statement.

Erekat noted that Netanyahu, "who heads a government of settlement and apartheid, does not want peace, but wants the Palestinian surrender under the Israeli apartheid regime."

"I believe that Netanyahu will have to wait forever," Erekat said, adding that the Palestinians had always rejected the principle "peace for peace," which is a basic element in the Israeli plan of annexing parts of the West Bank.

Erekat also said that "the logic behind the U.S.-Israeli attitudes is that the Palestinians must accept being defeated, or in other words, to strip them their legitimate rights in favor of the Israeli illegal settlement."

Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians had stopped in 2014. The Palestinians rejected the new U.S. peace plan in the Middle East, better known as "the Deal of the Century."