Mideast peace grows elusive

"This crisis was neither inevitable nor accidental. It has been caused by the failure of both sides to live up to their full obligations as partners in peace."
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

Little progress was made between Israelis and Palestinians on the road to Middle East peace in 1997, as settlement construction and suicide bombings offset Washington's diplomatic prodding.

For much of the year, the two sides weren't speaking. When they were, they often couldn't agree on what to discuss.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat met occasionally, and their negotiators held talks outside Washington in November.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visibly invested time and energy in the problem. In Jerusalem in September, she faulted both sides for the stalemate, calling on Israel to freeze settlement construction and on Palestinians to root out terrorism.

Two suicide bombings in Jerusalem during the summer left 22 dead, including five bombers, and heightened Israeli fears. The military wing of the Islamic movement Hamas claimed responsibility for both.

Hamas also claimed a suicide bomber's March 21 attack on a Tel Aviv cafe that killed three women. The attack occurred days after Israel broke ground for Jewish housing in a sector of Jerusalem claimed by Palestinians as a future capital.

Israel defiantly pushed ahead with settlement construction, though it said in October that construction would be limited. It did not oblige calls for a freeze.

Netanyahu did respond to external pressure after provoking international criticism in September with a bungled assassination attempt on a Hamas political leader in Jordan.

In the following weeks, he released several dozen Palestinian prisoners, including ailing Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin.