Clinton fails to get Palestinians to return to negotiating table

Palestinian officials on Saturday announced they failed to reach an agreement with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about another round of Middle East peace talks.

Although Clinton pressed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his representatives rather hard to return to the negotiating table, his government ultimately declined to resume discussions with Israeli leaders, primarily because of a lingering dispute with Tel Aviv over the nature of its settlements, officials said.

Nevertheless, it would have been a hard sell even for Clinton, who has been in the region for some time now promoting the president's renewed commitment to Middle East peace and international counter-terrorism.

Recently, both Israelis and Palestinians have criticized the Obama administration for backtracking on its previously stated commitment to solving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis -- a diplomatic obstacle Clinton surely faced while there this weekend.

"Obviously, we can't want this more than the parties want it. I mean, that's just the way negotiations are," she told the BBC earlier this week in an interview.

"But the fact that the United States is engaged, and that we are serious about this engagement, is, in and of itself, I think a very positive message," she added.