Top U.S. officials: Mideast peace talks have hit impasse

[Fozzledick]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with U.S. special envoy George Mitchell again Monday afternoon in an attempt to find a way to allow the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table. Senior U.S. officials admit that the talks have reached an impasse.

Mitchell met Sunday with Netanyahu's senior aide Yitzhak Molcho and later held consultations with his own advisers. A source in the Prime Minister's Office said the Palestinians were clearly the problem, adding that there was full agreement between Israel and the United States.

Netanyahu Sunday hit out at the Palestinian Authority over its demand for a complete Israeli settlement freeze before embarking on any fresh peace talks, saying he hoped the Palestinians would "get a grip" and drop this precondition."We've done things that have not been done until today, although while we are taking steps toward negotiations, we have encountered preconditions demanded by the Palestinian side, which were never demanded before," Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

The prime minister's comments came after visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday that Israel was making "unprecedented" concessions on West Bank settlement construction.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125251.html

[excess_3]

1. what are they arguing about, the shape of the table? .nt