NEW YORK — Israelis and Palestinians said Wednesday that their envoys would meet with U.S. officials but not with each other, cementing the impression that a U.S.-sponsored meeting between their leaders had fallen flat.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said there would be no follow-up session with the Israelis because the two sides hadn’t bridged the divides that have prevented them from resuming talks.
“It’s not happening because we agreed to continue dealing with the Americans until we reach the agreement that will enable us to relaunch the negotiations,” Erekat said.
The Palestinians refuse to restart talks until Israel freezes settlement construction in territories the Palestinians claim for a future state. They also want talks to restart where they left off, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to do.
In an NBC interview Wednesday, Netanyahu called Israeli settlements “bedroom suburbs.” And he told the Israeli news web site Ynet that under an accord, Israel would not withdraw from all territory it occupied during the 1967 Mideast war.
