Occupied Jerusalem: Washington called Tuesday for “a holding period” in the Middle East peace process after a deadline for reaching a deal expired with hopes dashed and the Israelis and Palestinians bitterly divided.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has no regrets about the energy he poured into his failed Middle East peace bid and is ready to dive back in again if asked, US officials said.

As the final date for the nine-month negotiation period came and went on Tuesday, peace hopes appeared more remote than ever.

“The original negotiating period was set to run until April 29. There’s nothing special about that date now,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington.

But Kerry has “no regrets about the time he spent investing in this process”.

“We’ve reached a point... where a pause is necessary... a holding period, where parties will figure out what they want to do next,” Psaki said.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders were quick to say they were open to resuming talks - but only under certain conditions likely to be unacceptable to the other side.

“If we want to extend the negotiations there has to be a release of prisoners ... a [colony] freeze, and a discussion of maps and borders for three months, during which there must be a complete halt to [colony] activity,” Abbas said.

But a senior Israeli government official said there would be no further talks unless Abbas renounced a reconciliation pact signed last week with Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers.

Analysts said the end of the negotiating period meant the situation would simply go back to square one.

As the curtain fell on the talks, Kerry found himself at the centre of a storm after reportedly saying that if the Israelis didn’t seize the opportunity to make peace soon, they risked becoming an “apartheid state” with second-class citizens.

“Apartheid” refers to South Africa’s 1948-1994 oppressive and racially segregated social system.

In an apology issued overnight, Kerry said he had never called Israel “an apartheid state” but he did not deny using the term.