Israel blames Palestinians for freeze in talks

A spokesman for Israel's prime minister is blaming the Palestinian leadership for the deadlock in peace talks, a day after the US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta 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." (AP)