RAMALLAH: Israel and the Palestinians remain deeply divided on the renewal of settlement construction despite fresh peace talks, a senior Palestinian official said Thursday.
The official said the negotiations held in Egypt and Jerusalem and attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had failed to resolve the settlements row, which could derail the peace talks relaunched earlier this month.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has threatened to walk out if Israel does not renew a moratorium on the construction of new homes in West Bank settlements that expires at the end of the month.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thus far refused to extend the partial ban despite the urging of US President Barack Obama.
"The Abbas-Netanyahu meeting (on Wednesday) saw very wide differences around the issues of settlements and borders, and the gap remains wide despite the attempt to intervene by (Clinton and US envoy George Mitchell)," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The talks "were difficult and made no progress," he added.
"The Palestinian side wants to focus on the issue of borders in order to resolve the issue of settlements," he said.
He said the Americans had suggested a three-month extension to the moratorium in which the two sides could agree on borders, which could bring a "final halt to settlement on the lands of the future Palestinian state.
The official added US negotiators wanted a complete halt to settlements while Israel was insisting on continuing to build in major settlement blocs it hopes to keep in any final peace accord.
Some 500,000 Israelis live in more than 120 Jewish settlements across the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories expected to form the bulk of a future Palestinian state.
The conflict over settlements has been one of the core disputes in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks going back to the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, The Israeli military said Thursday it would seal off the occupied West Bank for 48 hours from midnight for the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
"During the closure, entry (into Israel) will be allowed only for humanitarian cases and medical emergencies," an army statement said.
Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, begins at sunset Friday and ends at sunset Saturday.
The country shuts down for the solemn Day of Atonement, with most Israelis refraining from driving or using electricity and local television and radio stations suspending broadcasts.
Since the start of the second intifada in September 2000, the West Bank has been subject to a security lockdown through which just a few thousand Palestinians are allowed to enter Israel each day.
Full closures are routinely imposed over Jewish and Israeli national holidays.
