Mideast talks in tatters as peace deadline expires

Washington's deadline for a peace deal expired today with the sides bitterly divided and warnings that Israel risked becoming an "apartheid state" if it failed to make peace with the Palestinians.
As final date for the nine-month negotiation period arrived, peace hopes appeared more remote than ever with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas locked in a tactical game of fingerpointing, and US attempts to broker an extension in tatters.
After more than a year of intensive shuttle diplomacy by US Secretary of State John Kerry who had initially hoped for a deal by April 29, Washington's was reluctant to admit failure, acknowledging only a "pause" in the dialogue.

And both leaders were quick to say they were open to resuming talks -- but only under certain conditions likely to be unacceptable to the other side.
"If we want to extend the negotiations there has to be a release of prisoners ... A settlement freeze, and a discussion of maps and borders for three months, during which there must be a complete halt to settlement activity," Abbas said.
But a senior Israeli government official said there would be no further talks unless Abbas renounced a reconciliation pact signed last week with Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers.

"The moment that Mahmud Abbas gives up the alliance with Hamas, a murderous organisation which calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, we will be ready to return immediately to the negotiating table and discuss all subjects," he told AFP.

Analysts said the end of the negotiating period meant the situation would simply go back to square one.
"We're back to where we started," said Jonathan Spyer, senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Centre near Tel Aviv.