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Washington: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he failed to achieve any progress in Middle East peace talks with President George W. Bush and was returning home with little to show for his visit.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the Palestinian leader sounded pessimistic on Friday about the prospects of achieving any deal with Israel this year despite a big US push that began five months ago at a summit in Annapolis.
Abbas said, "Frankly, so far nothing has been achieved. But we are still conducting direct work to have a solution."
Abbas said the biggest obstacle is Israel's continued expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian-occupied territories.
"We demanded the Americans implement the first phase of the road map that talks about the cessation of settlement expansion," Abbas said, expressing disappointment the US hasn't exerted more pressure on Israel to stop. "This is the biggest blight that stands as a big rock in the path of negotiations."
Asked for comment, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "President Bush is helping to push the process forward. This wasn't a meeting in which major breakthroughs were expected.
He said, "Ultimately, this is for the Israelis and the Palestinians to come to an agreement. Each party has more to do - and given the serious commitment of the leaders, the president remains confident that defining a state by the end of the year is still possible."
Israel is pushing forward with controversial building projects on disputed land in the West Bank and east Occupied Jerusalem and is refusing to take down illegal settlement outposts, release Palestinian prisoners, halt military incursions, and dismantle roadblocks that severely disrupt daily life.
Abbas' aides said he also was upset after his lunch on Thursday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. While discussing what a peace deal would look like, Rice did not mention the Palestinian goal of creating a state based on borders before Israel captured Palestinian land during the 1967 Mideast war.
"We demanded that they talk about the '67 borders," Abbas told AP, showing a rare flash of anger. "None of them talks about the '67 borders."
Asked whether US officials offered any new US proposals, Abbas said no.
"They are exerting efforts. And we are still negotiating," he said, but he noted that no progress had been made on any of the core issues.
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