Israel, Palestinians wrap up latest round of peace talks without announcing breakthrough

Amid a sharp increase in militant attacks from the Gaza Strip, Israelis and Palestinians concluded their latest round of peace talks late Wednesday without announcing the hoped-for breakthrough in an impasse over Jewish settlement construction.

Yet U.S. Mideast envoy George J. Mitchell offered a glimmer of hope, saying progress had been made on the settlement issue, though he gave no details. Israeli and Palestinian officials declined to comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, but key challenges remain over Palestinian threats to quit the talks unless Israel promises to halt all housing construction in the occupied West Bank.

Asked by reporters about the talks’ progress during a brief appearance outside his residence before the meeting, Netanyahu said only, “We are working on it.… It’s a lot of work.”

Throughout the day, Clinton also held a series of meetings with other key leaders, including Israeli President Shimon Peres, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

But Clinton, in her first trip to the Mideast to press negotiations as secretary of State, appeared unable to bridge the differences. Talks probably will resume at next week’s U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York, where President Obama is expected to meet personally with the leaders.

American officials said Obama’s personal intervention might be needed to break the deadlock.

U.S. officials said the sides are making headway on broader core issues, including setting up a framework to tackle items such as borders and security. American mediators hope that by moving the talks along quickly, they can create a sense of momentum that will make it difficult for the leaders to break off the talks over the issue of the construction freeze.

Mitchell told reporters that the two leaders “are not leaving the tough issues to the end of the discussion” but are “tackling upfront … the issues that are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

U.S. officials “are trying to infuse substance into the discussions, to lift off the weight of the moratorium issue,” said Robert Danin, a former Mideast advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Despite his claim of progress, Mitchell ducked a question on whether he believed that Palestinians would follow through on their threat to quit talks at the end of the month. Palestinian officials showed no signs of softening their position.

“There is no chance to compromise on the issue of settlements,” said Yasser Abed-Rabbo, an advisor to Abbas, on Voice of Palestine when asked whether Palestinians would agree to a U.S.-brokered compromise on the issue. “Settlements are illegal.”

Netanyahu has announced no formal decisions about what he will do when a 10-month partial construction moratorium expires, but he has hinted that he is open to a compromise.

U.S. officials continued to strike an upbeat tone, in contrast to the deep public skepticism about the talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“This is the time and these are the leaders,” Clinton said between her meetings Wednesday, adding that Netanyahu and Abbas were “getting down to business.”

Meanwhile, in response to the renewed peace talks, Gaza militants accelerated their attacks against southern Israel, firing one rocket and eight mortar rounds Wednesday. All landed in open areas, and no injuries or damage were reported. Police said two of the mortar rounds appeared to contain phosphorus. Since Sunday, there have been about two dozen attacks.

The attacks mark the heaviest barrage of projectiles from Gaza since the end of Operation Cast Lead, the 22-day offensive by Israel that ended in January 2009.

Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that controls Gaza, has said it would resume armed attacks on against Israel in response to the U.S.-brokered peace talks, and it claimed responsibility for shootings this month that killed four Israelis in the West Bank. It was unclear whether Hamas or other extremist groups in Gaza were behind the recent rocket and mortar attacks.

Israel’s military, which went on high alert as the negotiating team arrived in Jerusalem, retaliated with an airstrike Wednesday against a Gaza smuggling tunnel, killing one Palestinian worker, officials said.

This week, Israeli tanks near the Gaza border killed three Palestinians, including a grandfather and his grandson. Israeli officials said Wednesday that the civilians were mistakenly thought to be preparing to fire a rocket-propelled grenade.

Israeli lawmakers have warned of a “swift and painful” response if the rocket attacks continue.

“There can be no doubt that, if this continues, we might have to contemplate something along the lines of Operation Cast Lead II, because the Palestinians have to understand that that option is also on the table,” conservative Israeli Cabinet minister Gilad Erdan said Wednesday on Israel Radio.

edmund.sanders@latimes.com

paul.richter@latimes.com