The nine-month period set by the US for Israel-Palestine peace talks expired today with no signs of progress.

Israeli peace activists placed blame for the failure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal settlement policies.

Figures quoted by Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now showed that during the talks, Mr Netanyahu’s government quadrupled the rate of development of settlement homes, approving 13,851 new housing units through the period.

“This is an unprecedented number representing an average of 50 housing units per day or 1,540 per month,” Peace Now said.

Its head Yariv Oppenheimer noted: “Netanyahu broke construction records during the nine-month peace talks.”

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry struggled to mend fences with Israel and pro-Israeli US senators.

He denied that he had ever called Israel an apartheid state.

“I do not believe, not have I ever stated, publicly or privately that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one,” he insisted following calls for him to resign or at least apologise for the comments.

The Daily Beast website had reported that Mr Kerry warned international experts at the Trilateral Commission that Israel was in danger of evolving into an apartheid state.

He reportedly said that “a two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative” and added that “a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second-class citizens or it ends up destroying the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state.”

The alleged comment caused a huge furore in Israel and sparked calls for his resignation in the US.

Mr Kerry had “repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to countenance a world in which Israel is made a pariah,” fumed Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

“Before any more harm is done to our national security interests and our critical alliance with the state of Israel,” Mr Kerry should offer his resignation and President Barack Obama should accept it, he added.