RAMALLAH — Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are proving pointless and will not bear fruit without much greater pressure from Washington, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

In the most damning Palestinian assessment to date, Yasser Abed Rabbo said that the negotiations, which kicked off in late July after a three year hiatus, had made no progress.

A Palestinian protester holds a sign as he stands in front of Israeli soldiers during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank city of Hebron August 30, 2013. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma

“These negotiations are futile and won’t lead to any results,” Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine radio.

“I don’t expect any progress at all, unless there is huge and powerful American pressure, such as the one we are seeing from America to deal with the Syrian issue,” added Abed Rabbo, one of just two officials authorized by Abbas to discuss the talks.

An Israeli official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the remarks, saying the two sides had agreed that only the United States should speak about the talks. “We are abiding by that agreement,” the official said.

Little information has leaked about the focus of the initial talks, but Abed Rabbo said continued Israeli settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem on land the Palestinians want for their future state, had undermined the negotiations.