US special envoy George Mitchell is due to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas today in Ramallah, a day after holding talks in Israel in the attempt to launch a new diplomacy operation.

The meeting comes just one day after US President Barack Obama said in an interview with Time magazine published Thursday that his Administration had overestimated its ability to persuade Israelis and Palestinians to return to negotiations, reported the BBC.

The Palestinians refuse to re-start talks with Israel unless it completely halts the building of settlements in the West bank and East Jerusalem. Israel, which captured both areas in 1967, has reduced settlement growth in the West bank, but not East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians want the capital of their future state, The Associated Press reported.

Earlier on Thursday, the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of imposing “further conditions on negotiations” and denouncing “Israel’s intention to continue its occupation” of the West Bank whatever happens, reported Al Jazeera. Erakat was referring to Netanyahu’s statement on Wednesday that Israel would retain military control around any future Palestinian state, including the West bank, in order to prevent the smuggling of rockets that might be used to target it.

However, Netanyahu, addressing foreign media on Wednesday, attacked Palestinian leaders for rejecting US calls to restart the peace process, which has been suspended for over a year.

Israel has agreed to a 10-month lull in building, excluding East Jerusalem. The Palestinians have not agreed to Israel’s demands that they recognise Israel as a Jewish state, that a future Palestinian state be demilitarised and that Israel retain control of an undivided Jerusalem. However, Hamas, the Muslim political party controlling Gaza, indicated this week that it would recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Peace talks have also reportedly been stymied by the upgrading to university status of Ariel College, built in a Jewish settlement in the West bank, on Thursday, The Washington Post reported. The decision by the Defence Minister Ehud Barak, which formalised a 2005 cabinet ruling, was criticised sharply by Erakat, who said the move was “part of the same policy of dictation rather than negotiation.”

Analysts do not see a breakthrough in this stall in the immediate future. Jonathan Spyer, an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, told the Christian Science Monitor that Palestinians have no sense of urgency and are not willing to make concessions that will be criticised by Hamas, whereas Israel is ready to start negotiations, but it is not going to agree to a more extensive settlement freeze that includes East Jerusalem.

Mitchell said he would soldier on in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East and disclosed Obama’s vision of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in peace, reported Israel’s newspaper Haaretz.

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Mitchell acknowledges difficulties

Mitchell met Israeli officials on Thursday in his latest attempt to restart peace talks [AFP]

Israel and the Palestinians have questioned each other’s commitment to peace amid the launch by George Mitchell, the US envoy for the Middle East, of a new round of shuttle diplomacy.

He has arrived in the region as Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of cynicism in their approach to the peace process.

Mitchell said before holding talks with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, on Thursday that he recognised “the complexities and difficulties” of pursuing Middle East peace, but made no comment on the angry exchanges that greeted him.

After his meetings with the Israelis, Mitchell is scheduled to hold talks with the Palestinians in Ramallah on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, accused Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, of imposing “further conditions on negotiations” and announcing “Israel’s intention to continue its occupation” of the West Bank whatever happens.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has said ‘No’ to a settlement freeze, ‘No’ to sharing Jerusalem, ‘No’ to the 1967 borders, ‘No’ to the rights of Palestinian refugees. Now he wants to retain the Jordan Valley,” Erekat said in a statement.

He was referring to a comment by Netanyahu on Wednesday that Israel would retain military control around any future Palestinian state that included the West Bank.

“We had hoped to hear a clear commitment to negotiations without pre-conditions. What we got instead was Mr Netanyahu again trying to dictate their terms and preempt their outcome,” Erekat said.

War of words

Addressing the foreign press late on Wednesday, Netanyahu attacked the Palestinian leadership for rejecting US calls to relaunch negotiations suspended for over a year.