Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday demanded a total Israeli freeze on new settlements after he held a fruitless meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Abu Dhabi.

“Israel should honour its obligations especially with regards to the total halt on the settlements," Abbas told reporters, adding that no breakthrough was reached in the meeting. “The problem with the Israeli government is that it refuses to stop building settlements" in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he said.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said, “The American delegation informed us of the Israeli position that refuses... a halt of construction of settlements... The gap between us was very deep and is widening even more,” he admitted.

Erakat said Abbas told Hillary the Palestinians will not agree to re-launch peace talks with Israel without a complete freeze of Jewish settlements.