Palestinians accuse US of killing peace prospects

Pointing an accusing finger at the United States, Palestinians on Sunday said Washington's backing for Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any hope of reviving peace negotiations soon. On a one-day Middle East visit on Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Israel's view that settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank should not be a bar to resuming negotiations -- contradicting the Palestinian position. U.S. President Barack Obama himself, has called only for "restraint" in settlement, not the "freeze" he had previously proposed. Stung by Obama's about-face and Clinton's remarks, the Palestinians voiced their frustration. "The negotiations are in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel's intransigence and America's back-pedaling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon," Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said.