Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on March 18 called the latest meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama “candid, difficult and long” and said that Abbas had given Obama a map showing that Israel has built more than 10,000 new housing units in Jewish settlements since talks resumed last year.

Erekat, in a rare public appearance in Washington, said Israel's settlement construction amounts to “four times the natural growth of New York City,” but that the Palestinians remain committed to the talks and appreciate the efforts of Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.

With the latest iteration of negotiations due to expire at the end of April, there had been some expectation that the Obama administration would give Abbas a framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

“This did not happen,” Erekat said, speaking at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “We are still at the stage of discussing ideas.” The talks with Abbas, on March 17, followed on a meeting between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington last week.