Former Abbas aide Ghaith al-Omari described the meeting as one of maintenance rather than decisiveness, given Israeli political developments and other hindrances to the process.

He said that while chances of an agreement appeared dim, the sides had a vested political interest in keeping the process going.

"You can feel a real concern that they don't want to see it collapse," said Omari, now with the Washington-based American Task Force for Palestine, pointing to a White House meeting as helpful in that respect. LINK