Mid-East peace struggle goes on

Intensive efforts have failed to deliver a settlement

The Middle East peace summit in Camp David has failed to produce an agreement - but the Israeli and Palestinian leaders are to stay on in the US to continue talks without President Clinton.

There should be no limit to the effort we are prepared to make

President Clinton

The US leader said there had been progress at the nine-day Camp David summit, but the gaps between the Israelis and Palestinians remained wide.

Sources say the status of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital, was the biggest obstacle.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will take over from President Clinton in mediating between the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, as efforts are made to revive the negotiations.

The summit had been called to resolve the issues at the heart of the Middle East process, including sovereignty over Jerusalem and the borders of a future Palestinian state.

Clinton: "This is really hard"

No reason has yet been given on why the Israelis and the Palestinians failed to reach an agreement, and Mr Clinton said the news blackout on the talks was still in place.

President Clinton is now heading to Tokyo for a Group of Eight economic summit.

The White House spokesman, Joe Lockhart, said the Israeli and Palestinian delegations had packed their bags after the breakdown of the talks, but had then agreed to stay on.

The BBC Middle East analyst says that, without Mr Clinton's presence, the prospects of a deal do not look bright.

'Extra mile'

"Nobody wanted to give up," Mr Clinton said in a press briefing before heading off to Tokyo.

"The gaps remain substantial but there has been progress and we must all be prepared to go the extra mile," Mr Clinton said.

Barak: Palestinians say he was negotiating with his own coalition

"There should be no limit to the effort we are prepared to make."

Negotiators had pressed on with talks late into Wednesday night, in the hope of reaching a deal at the last moment.

A BBC correspondent covering the talks, Rob Watson, says it is understood the president is anxious the parties should not now engage in a blame game over the summit's collapse.

Accusations

However, a Palestinian spokesman immediately blamed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak for the failure of the talks.

"The man who bears responsibility for this failure is Barak who abandoned the basis of the peace process and international legitimacy," said Hassan Abdel Rahman, the PLO representative in Washington.

Arafat: Accused of bad faith in the talks

Mr Abdel Rahman said the Israeli prime minister "was negotiating with the Israeli right-wing and not with the Palestinian delegation".

Mr Barak had earlier written a letter to President Clinton saying that the Palestinian side was not negotiating in good faith.

There had been threats by both sides to walk out of the talks.

US officials had earlier described the atmosphere as "very difficult".