Last-ditch talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on US-brokered ‘peace process’ ended without a breakthrough Sunday

Last-ditch talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on US-brokered ‘peace process’ ended without a breakthrough Sunday, Palestinian sources told AFP.

"The crisis continues. During the whole meeting, the Israelis threatened the Palestinians and no solution to the crisis was found," a Palestinian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Warning that the peace process was on the edge of collapse, an Israeli official close to the talks said that even US Secretary of State John Kerry was cooling off. "The way it's looking now, the talks as they were several weeks ago are no longer relevant," the source told Israeli news website Ynet.

"Israel is preparing to return to routine dealings with the Palestinians as they were before the negotiations started nine months ago."We are noticing a real coolness in the way the Americans are treating (the peace process), and it's obvious that today's Kerry is not the same Kerry from a few weeks ago," the official added.

A second official, however, said another chance needed to be given to the efforts of Israel's chief negotiator Tzipi Livni. "We have to wait a few more days. ... A lot of efforts are being done to salvage the situation," the official said.

Netanyahu: Palestinians Harming Talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, threatened to retaliate if the PLO proceeds with applications to adhere to 15 international treaties.

"These will only make a peace agreement more distant," he said of the applications the PLO made on Tuesday. "Any unilateral moves they take will be answered by unilateral moves at our end."

Netanyahu's remarks, made at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, came hours before Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met US envoy Martin Indyk in an attempt to save the so-called peace process.

"The Palestinians have much to lose from a unilateral move. They will get a state only through direct negotiations and not through empty declarations or unilateral moves," Netanyahu said. "We are prepared to continue talks, but not at any price."

Netanyahu noted the Palestinian application to the international institutions came "the moment before agreeing on the continuation of the talks" beyond their April 29 deadline.

"Israel Undermined Talks First"

For its part, a spokesperson for Palestinian Authority president accused Israel of undermining the peace process first, minutes after Netanyahu’s comments.

Nabil Abu Rdeina told Ma'an on Sunday that "it was Israel who took unilateral steps to thwart the peace process," pointing out that the Zionist entity precipitated the current impasse in the talks by refusing to release the fourth batch of veteran Palestinian prisoners jailed before the Oslo Accords as had been previously agreed upon.

Abu Rdeina added that Israel has continued to expand settlements in the West Bank throughout the peace process, which also constitutes a unilateral move to undermine hopes for peace.