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

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell said before that the talks between Israel and the Palestinians were successful and progressing steadily.

But diplomatic sources from both sides quoted by the Israeli media revealed a different picture as they described Mitchell's statement as "inaccurate" and "a false presentation of progress."

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the first two meetings held between Netanyahu and Abbas, first on Sept. 2 in Washington and then in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm Sharm el-Sheikh only dealt with technical issues such as the order of the various subjects to be discussed and the future of the moratorium on settlement construction, let alone the key issues including the future Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

Ghassan Khateeb, an advisor to the Palestinian National Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, said that it would strengthen the U.S. position in the Middle East if the talks were successful.

"It is in the strategic interest of the United States in this region that progress would be made towards a solution of this problem," he said.

"Settlement activities without negotiations are illegal," Khateeb said, "and the goal of the negotiations is not only to stop the expansion of settlements but also to dismantle them."

"The whole world is blaming Israel for not stopping the settlement expansion as this is the cause of crisis," He said, " this is not a public relation race on who is the most active one in blaming the other side, everyone is blaming Israel."