The German Yungas Welt newspaper described acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas (Abu-Mazen) as “Washington's puppet”, adding that he “has expired”, arguing that direct talks between the Oslo authority and Israel “were dead at birth”.

“One of the reasons for this description goes back to the state of the leaders participating in the negotiations. The Israeli side led by extreme rightist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a Palestinian team headed by a puppet purchased by Washington, Mahmoud Abbas,” wrote Rob Reiner the paper's political editor.

“Barack Obama, the official sponsor of these negotiations, was supposed to be a neutral and impartial mediator, but turned into a small device in Israel’s bag after repeatedly bowing down to the lobby in support of those in Washington and Israel,” he added.

“Most surprisingly, Abbas, who presents himself in these negotiations as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians, has in fact lost legal authority after the end of his term in January 2009,” the analyst went on to say.

“How can Abbas approve without a democratic mandate historic decisions that will have a heavy impact on the issue of Palestine?”

“Netanyahu’s strong sense of Obama’s bias and inability to oppose him has encouraged him to announce before talks in Washington began that he would not offer any concessions or extend the settlement freeze set to end this fall,” he concluded.