Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he failed to achieve any progress in Middle East peace talks with President Bush and he’s returning home with little to show for his visit.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, the Palestinian leader sounded pessimistic about the prospects of achieving any deal with Israel this year, despite a big U.S. push that began five months ago at a summit in Annapolis, Maryland.

Abbas says the biggest obstacle is Israel’s continued expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian-occupied territories.

As Abbas put it, “This is the biggest blight” on efforts to achieve a deal before Bush leaves office in January 2009.