Palestinian president under pressure to accept U.S. security plan: sources

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing pressure from Arab leaders to accept a U.S. security plan intended to quicken the process toward a Palestinian- Israel peace deal, sources said on Thursday.

The pressure came from several Arab countries, said the sources, some of them Palestinian officials, who didn't name the countries.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had presented his security ideas to the Palestinians and Israelis in his visit to the region last week.

In an effort of shuttle diplomacy to broker a deal by the spring, Kerry arrived in Israel on Thursday and will hold meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in the following days.

Several Palestinian officials have voiced rejection to Kerry's plan, saying it adopts the Israeli vision and neglects the Palestinian demand that Israel maintain no security presence on the borders of a future Palestinian state.