WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s furious efforts to relaunch stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks this summer are going nowhere, and a looming U.N. confrontation could further set back prospects for a negotiated settlement anytime soon.
Despite attempts to get the parties back to the table based on parameters that President Barack Obama outlined in a May speech, U.S. and other officials say neither side appears willing to commit to new discussions.
Senior officials from the international group of Mideast peacemakers — the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia — planned to meet Monday in Washington. The goal is to revive the process by increasing pressure on the two sides to return to talks.
The mediators “will come together and will compare notes about where we are and plot a course forward,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Friday.
Yet repeated visits to Israel and the West Bank last month by U.S. envoys have produced no tangible results. That has been the case, too, in recent talks in Washington between U.S. officials and their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts.
One U.S. official privately described the overall atmosphere surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as gloomy. A second termed it depressing.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential meetings.
