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The invitation to Abbas was delivered by Obama's envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, who met the Palestinian president in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said.
"Mitchell invited president Abbas to visit the United States in May and he has responded positively to the invitation," Erakat said, adding that the exact date of the talks has yet to be determined.
The two leaders were expected to discuss efforts to revive peace talks suspended since Israel launched a devastating assault on Gaza in December 2008.
Washington has not yet officially announced the invitation to Abbas and a US official declined to comment on whether Netanyahu would also be invited.
The United States has been pressing the two sides to return to negotiations for months, but the Palestinians have refused to do so without a complete freeze on Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
Netanyahu said after meeting Mitchell on Sunday that both Israel and the United States want an immediate resumption of talks.
"I only hope that the Palestinians also want an immediate start to the peace process," he told reporters at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "We shall know in the next few days if the process is under way."
Erakat insisted however that there would be no negotiations until Israel halted settlement construction in the West Bank including east Jerusalem.
"Despite the fact that our discussions with the American side are continuing, we do not expect indirect negotiations to begin in the next few days," he told AFP.
"Israel is trying to convince the international community that it has agreed to negotiations but, in reality, what is hindering these negotiations are the Israeli government and its actions."
As with previous visits Mitchell was tight-lipped about the talks, saying only that they were "positive and productive" and that he would return to the region next week. He departed later on Sunday.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz meanwhile reported that indirect "proximity" talks between the two sides would resume no later than mid-May, citing unnamed officials involved in the peace efforts.
The daily said Obama has informed Abbas that he did not succeed in convincing Netanyahu to freeze settlements in east Jerusalem but that the hawkish premier would refrain from taking "significant" actions there during the talks.
It also said the negotiations would encompass all the core issues of the decades-old conflict, including Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and final borders.
The Palestinians, with backing from Arab states, reluctantly agreed to indirect US-brokered talks in March but the initiative collapsed days later when Israel announced it would build 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem.
The planned settlement expansion infuriated the Palestinians and drew a harsh rebuke from Washington, in part because it came during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
East Jerusalem was the scene of tensions on Sunday as Palestinian youths hurled rocks at Israeli police near a march held by a few dozen far-right Israelis to assert Jewish control over the city.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. It views the entire city as its "eternal, indivisible" capital.
The Palestinians have demanded east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state and view settlement construction in the occupied territories as a major threat to its viability.
The deadlock over settlements has strained relations between Israel and its closest ally the United States, which had hoped to relaunch peace talks as part of a wider effort to engage the Muslim world.
Nearly half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements scattered across the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, among nearly 2.5 million Palestinians.
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"Mitchell invited president Abbas to visit the United States in May and he has responded positively to the invitation," Erakat said, adding that the exact date of the talks has yet to be determined.
The two leaders were expected to discuss efforts to revive peace talks suspended since Israel launched a devastating assault on Gaza in December 2008.
Washington has not yet officially announced the invitation to Abbas and a US official declined to comment on whether Netanyahu would also be invited.
The United States has been pressing the two sides to return to negotiations for months, but the Palestinians have refused to do so without a complete freeze on Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including annexed Arab east Jerusalem.
Netanyahu said after meeting Mitchell on Sunday that both Israel and the United States want an immediate resumption of talks.
"I only hope that the Palestinians also want an immediate start to the peace process," he told reporters at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "We shall know in the next few days if the process is under way."
Erakat insisted however that there would be no negotiations until Israel halted settlement construction in the West Bank including east Jerusalem.
"Despite the fact that our discussions with the American side are continuing, we do not expect indirect negotiations to begin in the next few days," he told AFP.
"Israel is trying to convince the international community that it has agreed to negotiations but, in reality, what is hindering these negotiations are the Israeli government and its actions."
As with previous visits Mitchell was tight-lipped about the talks, saying only that they were "positive and productive" and that he would return to the region next week. He departed later on Sunday.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz meanwhile reported that indirect "proximity" talks between the two sides would resume no later than mid-May, citing unnamed officials involved in the peace efforts.
The daily said Obama has informed Abbas that he did not succeed in convincing Netanyahu to freeze settlements in east Jerusalem but that the hawkish premier would refrain from taking "significant" actions there during the talks.
It also said the negotiations would encompass all the core issues of the decades-old conflict, including Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and final borders.
The Palestinians, with backing from Arab states, reluctantly agreed to indirect US-brokered talks in March but the initiative collapsed days later when Israel announced it would build 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem.
The planned settlement expansion infuriated the Palestinians and drew a harsh rebuke from Washington, in part because it came during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
East Jerusalem was the scene of tensions on Sunday as Palestinian youths hurled rocks at Israeli police near a march held by a few dozen far-right Israelis to assert Jewish control over the city.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. It views the entire city as its "eternal, indivisible" capital.
The Palestinians have demanded east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state and view settlement construction in the occupied territories as a major threat to its viability.
The deadlock over settlements has strained relations between Israel and its closest ally the United States, which had hoped to relaunch peace talks as part of a wider effort to engage the Muslim world.
Nearly half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements scattered across the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, among nearly 2.5 million Palestinians.
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