Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned yesterday that lack of progress towards Middle East peace was eroding faith that a two-state solution could end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A day after meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, Mr Abbas said the stagnation of the peace process had left some Palestinians unconvinced a two-state solution was even possible.
"I would like to express concern that the situation is very difficult," he said in remarks at a Washington think-tank.
"The hope for a two-state solution... I fear, is beginning to erode and the world is starting not to believe, to distrust, that we are able to reach this situation."
Mr Abbas is in Washington hoping to advance fragile indirect peace talks that the United States spent months arranging but which have been imperiled by a deadly May 31 Israeli raid against an aid flotilla seeking to break the blockade on Gaza.
The raid ratcheted up regional tensions and forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a trip to Washington intended to publicly repair US-Israeli relations strained by Israel's refusal to halt settlement activity.
The incident, which left nine dead, sparked international condemnation and calls for an inquiry.
Israel has defended the raid as necessary to uphold a blockade on the Gaza Strip and says it will conduct its own, limited investigation into the incident.
Mr Abbas said any inquiry must be international, echoing US comments that an international component would be "essential" to ensure credibility.
"The investigation should not be left in the hands of Israel. Israel cannot investigate itself," he said, accusing Israeli commandos of having "attacked innocent people who had no weapons or aggressive motivations".
The US has declined to directly condemn Israel for the attack, but Mr Obama warned Wednesday after meeting Mr Abbas that the situation in Gaza, withering under the years-long blockade, was "unsustainable".
Washington is eager to prop up fragile first steps towards negotiations in the form of US-facilitated indirect talks.