JERUSALEM -- A spokesman for Israel's prime minister is blaming the Palestinian leadership for the deadlock in peace talks, a day after the U.S. defense secretary said that Israel was not doing enough to renew negotiations.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says Israel remains ready for the resumption of peace talks without preconditions. The Palestinians, he said on Saturday, are "playing diplomatic games to try to cover their position, which is to boycott Israel and to refuse to enter negotiations."
At a Brookings Institution forum on Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged Israeli leaders to "just get to the damned table." He added that Israel could more actively attempt to mend ties with Turkey and Egypt, and reverse its growing isolation in the Middle East.
