国际英语新闻：Israel, Palestinians start to blame each other as talks look shaky

JERUSALEM, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The latest round of the U.S.- sponsored direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were stumbling as the two sides differed on the issue of whether or not Israel should extend its 10-month freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank after it ended last week.

Analysts said that both Israel and the Palestinians are now trying to escape being blamed for delaying the peace talks, while reaffirming close relations with the Washington.

BLAME GAME STARTS

Palestinian officials said that Israel's refusal to extend freeze on settlement construction showed that the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not interested in peace.

Meanwhile, Israeli right wing politicians said in response that Israel had offered a 10-month moratorium, but the Palestinians did not agree to return to the negotiation table until last month, which showed the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) led by President Mahmud Abbas was not interested in peace.

"It is a blame game," said Michael Shamir at the Department of Political Science of the Tel Aviv University. "Both sides are trying to maintain their relations with the U.S. which is strongly pushing for the talks to continue."

"In my opinion this is not the end of the game. We have to wait for the Arab League's decision of whether or not to continue the talks," Shamir added.

Hani Masry, a Palestinian political analyst, said that " Netanyahu blames Abu Mazen (Abbas) and Abu Mazen tries to blame Netanyahu" because they do not want to lose the support of the U.S. administration.

"Until now we can't say that we are in a crisis," Masry said, adding that "(U.S special envoy George) Mitchell is still in the region and we must wait until Friday for the decision of the Arab League meeting to see if there is a crisis."

In the West Bank, there are 300,000 Jewish settlers living in around 100 settlements built adjacent to Palestinian towns and villages and are protected by the Israeli army. Currently, about 2. 5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Palestinians view the West Bank and east Jerusalem as part of their future independent state and claim that any Israeli construction in these areas constitutes a violation of international law.