No peace progress in Middle East

JERUSALEM, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. envoy George Mitchell returned home Friday from a trip to Jerusalem and Ramallah that did little to restart Middle East peace talks, officials said.

Mitchell met separately during his two-day visit with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the Los Angeles Times reported. Officials said the discussions appeared to have done nothing to get the peace process moving.

While Mitchell was still in Jerusalem, President Barack Obama told Time magazine he did not think either Israel or the Palestinians would be prepared to make compromises. He said his administration might have overestimated what both sides were willing to do.

"If we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high," he added.

Netanyahu, before meeting with Mitchell, said the Palestinians "have climbed up a tree," referring to demands for a freeze on all new construction in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. He said Israel would need to guard the eastern border of any Palestinian state to keep weapons out.

Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator, called a settlement freeze "an Israeli obligation."