The head of a delegation of US Democratic members of Congress blamed the Palestinians on Thursday for failing to hold talks with Israel, calling it the "largest thing" impeding the peace process.
"I think the largest thing impeding the negotiations at this point is simply the unwillingness of (Palestinian president Mahmud) Abbas to sit down (with the Israelis)," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters in Jerusalem.
Abbas has refused to meet with Israel's new right-leaning government until the Jewish state ceases all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank in line with repeated demands from the White House.
Hoyer however said the issue of settlements should be addressed through direct negotiations and said if he had met Abbas during his delegation's week-long visit to the region, he would have asked him to drop "preconditions."
"The United States' policy has been for a stop to any additional settlements. That is a thorny, tough issue... It's an issue that has to be solved at the negotiating table," he said.
The delegation of 29 congressional Democrats met several senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad.
Hoyer said a scheduled meeting with Abbas had been cancelled because it conflicted with the Palestinian leader's Fatah party congress.
Senior US Republican Congressman Eric Cantor, who visited Israel a week ago at the head of a similar delegation, also blamed the Palestinians for the stalled talks and criticised the US administration's focus on settlements.
Israel and the Palestinians relaunched peace talks at a US conference in November 2007 but the Palestinians suspended the negotiations during Israel's three-week war on the Hamas movement in Gaza at the turn of the year.
US President Barack Obama has called on both sides to return to the negotiating table while ramping up pressure on Israel to halt settlement construction, including the so-called "natural growth" of existing settlements.
Netanyahu has said his government will not approve the building of new settlements but will continue to allow construction in existing ones.
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