Peace talks could not survive that mutual death blow, and they came to a screeching halt, with no hope to resume them in sight.
While Livni refused to give up, holding an unsanctioned meeting with Abbas in London in May, the talks were already given up for lost by both sides to the sound of worldwide condemnation and feeble, futile calls to return to the negotiating table.
Settlements ‘poison the atmosphere’
Publicly, American President Obama laid the blame on both sides. Behind closed doors, however, US officials told Yedioth Ahronoth that the Netanyahu government’s refusal to “move more than an inch” on settlement construction is what “poisoned the atmosphere and doomed any chance of a breakthrough with the Palestinians.”
Peace Now, a left-wing NGO, reported that during the nine months of peace talks, Israel has approved nearly 14,000 new homes to be built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – territories the Palestinians want for a future state.