CAIRO: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Saturday that the failure by US envoy George Mitchell to a secure a deal on Jewish settlements means the resumption of peace talks with Israel is on hold.

"The road is now blocked," Abbas told reporters after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

Mitchell ended a Middle East mission on Friday after failing to secure a key deal on Jewish settlements, despite shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas. He had meet both leaders earlier this week.

Abbas said that the onus was now on Israel to clear the way for peace negotiations, adding that Mitchell will resume talks with the Middle East players after the UN General Assembly next week.

"There is no more work (for Mitchell) with the Western or Palestinian sides because we are complying with all our duties. The focus has to be on the Israeli side," he said.

Abbas later travelled to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II on the future of the peace process, and the two leaders urged the international community to put pressure on Israel, the palace said in a statement.

"The international community must bear its responsibilities and prevent Israel from undermining the efforts that are underway to push for serious and effective negotiations," the statement said.

During the meeting in Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba, Abbas and the Jordanian king also insisted that the "United States must have a leading role" in trying to revive the peace process.

And they warned that Israel's settlements policy represents "the key obstacle to achieving progress," the statement added.

Mitchell had been trying to broker a compromise on the thorny issue that would have led to a three-way meeting between Netanyahu, Abbas and US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the General Assembly.

He had been aiming to secure some kind of Israeli moratorium that would be acceptable to the Palestinians and enable the resumption of peace talks that were suspended in late December.

Netanyahu has rebuffed US calls to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem, and Palestinians are sticking to their demand for such a halt before negotiations can resume.