Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas pledged to launch talks "in the near future" on forming a national unity cabinet, following the resignation of prime minister Salam Fayyad.

Abbas made the remarks late Thursday at a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was attended by Fayyad.

Top U.S. diplomat John Kerry regretted the resignation of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and urged Palestinians Sunday to find the right person to take on the tough job and work with the U.S.

Fayyad quit after months of tensions with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and only days after talks with Kerry who visited Israel and the Palestinian territories last week seeking to map out the contours of a new peace plan.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad resigned on Saturday, leaving the Palestinians without one of their most moderate and well-respected voices just as the U.S. is launching a new push for Mideast peace.

A statement from the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said President Mahmoud Abbas met with Fayyad late in the day and accepted his resignation, thanking him for his service. According to the statement, Abbas asked Fayyad to continue to serve in his post until Abbas forms a new government.

Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad is to present his resignation to president Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, a senior Palestinian official said.

Abbas and Fayyad are known to have been at odds over a raft of issues but their relationship took a nose dive last month when Fayyad accepted his finance minister's resignation only for it to be rejected by Abbas.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird held what he termed "positive" talks with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Saturday despite their differences.

Baird, on a four-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and foreign minister Riyad al-Malki.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday slammed the burning of an effigy of Qatar's emir in the West Bank, saying it did not reflect the opinion of the Palestinian leadership or people.

"The burning of an effigy of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani does not represent in any way the position of the state of Palestine, Fatah or the Palestinian people," he said in a statement carried by the news agency WAFA.

Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian youths during a West Bank clash, officials said Thursday, heightening tension ahead of the funeral of a prisoner who died in Israel.

The clashes late on Wednesday in the two of Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank, came after a day of violent protests across the West Bank, where a general strike was called after the death Tuesday of life prisoner Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh in an Israeli jail.

The Israeli army's killing of two Palestinian youths in West Bank clashes jeopardizes U.S. efforts to rekindle peace talks, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday.

"The Israeli government is behind this escalation," Abbas said in a statement. "The Israeli government is responsible for the (negative) impact on U.S. and international efforts to restart negotiations."

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is to meet on Sunday in Amman with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is pushing for a renewal of peace talks, a Palestinian official said.

"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with president Abbas next Sunday in Amman," he told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas blamed the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday for the death of a prisoner suffering from terminal cancer.

"The Palestinian presidency holds the government of Netanyahu responsible for the martyrdom of prisoner Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh today in the prisons of the Israeli occupation," Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement.