Middle East Peace Talks Continue, Under the Radar JERUSALEM - A recent Israeli editorial cartoon depicted the lead Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators beleaguered on treadmills, with Secretary of State John Kerry between them. Hands on the controls, Mr. Kerry was shown saying, "I'm upping the tempo a bit more." Nearly three months into the latest round of Washington-brokered peace talks in what has been the Middle East's most intractable conflict, Mr. Kerry met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Rome on Wednesday, having said the process had "intensified" over 13 negotiating sessions, including three in the past week. Another is scheduled for Monday. After years of stalemate, the very fact that the talks are continuing - and, perhaps even more important, that the participants have adhered to Mr. Kerry's admonition not to disclose their content - is something of an achievement, especially in light of the turmoil raging in the region. But many veterans of the process remain skeptical about the prospects for progress given the yawning gaps in each side's public positions, saying both are mainly participating in order to appease the American administration and improve their broader international standing. "In a period where the whole Middle East is moving in the direction of chaos, having one area where the parties are trying to further stabilize their relationship is a positive development," said Dore Gold, a longtime Israeli diplomat and president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. The fact that they continue to talk means these are serious discussions. Where this goes, what's the likely outcome, I think it's really way too early to predict. Khalil Shikaki, a leading Palestinian pollster and political consultant, said the talks, which both sides committed to for nine months, seem still to be at the beginning of the beginning. "You can waste days and months talking about things, clarifying your position, defending your position," Mr. Shikaki said. Eventually, they begin to contemplate compromises. It is at that point that negotiators tend to become more engaged and in fact to become real negotiators, not just advocates of their positions. My sense is that has not happened yet. In contrast to previous rounds of Israeli-Palestinian talks, little has leaked from the negotiating room. Even the timing, location and duration of meetings has rarely been revealed. Several people close to the process said the sessions so far have alternated between Jerusalem and Jericho - they said they were not allowed to disclose the specific venues - and have each generally focused on a single subject, like sharing water resources, or whether Israeli or international forces should patrol the Jordan Valley. Four people attend all the meetings - the two negotiators in the cartoon, Tzipi Livni, Israel's justice minister, and Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, as well as Isaac Molho, a lawyer close to Mr. Netanyahu, and Mohammed Shtayyeh, a senior adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. Others participate on an ad hoc basis depending on the agenda. Mr. Netanyahu said in Rome on Wednesday that he and Mr. Kerry talk "more or less every other day" about the Palestinians and the Iranian nuclear threat. After Palestinian complaints that Mr. Kerry's special envoy, Martin Indyk, was not sitting in on the sessions, he has attended recent ones, according to one official close to the process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the rules against discussing it. But this official said that Mr. Indyk, a two-time United States ambassador to Israel, was still not present for the substance of the exchange, instead coming in at the end to be briefed on the discussion. Recent polls show scant optimism on the street. Palestinians are split, with 47 percent supporting the resumption of negotiations and 49 percent opposed, according to a September survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research; 70 percent think they will not lead to an agreement. Sixty-one percent of Israeli Jews back the talks, according to the Israel Democracy Institute's Peace Index published this month, but 81 percent see no real chance of a deal. The public conversation is much more focused, in Israel, on Iran, and on both sides, on a recent uptick in West Bank violence that has led to the deaths of three Israelis and at least seven Palestinians, including a man suspected of plotting a bombing of a Tel Aviv bus in November who was killed during an Israeli military raid Tuesday near the village of Bilin. "I don't know anybody who's talking about it, it's kind of a nonissue," said Diana Buttu, a lawyer and former Palestinian negotiator who splits her time between Ramallah and Haifa. You ask people what do you think's going to happen, they shrug their shoulders, shake their heads - there's no confidence in the process. Mr. Abbas on Sunday rejected statements by some Palestinian leaders that the talks verged on a breakdown, telling a German television station "the negotiations are difficult but they haven't reached a deadlock." But Ms. Buttu was troubled by Mr. Abbas saying in other recent interviews that there had been no progress yet worthy of mention, and that if the talks collapse Israel would be partly to blame. "In the past when negotiations went absolutely nowhere, he always stayed quiet," said Ms. Buttu, who used to work for Mr. Abbas. I think he's becoming frustrated and reaching a point where he's going to have to reassess. David Makovsky, the director of a project on the Middle East peace process at the Washington Institute, said the leaders are benefiting from "the silver lining of low expectations," and that their adherence so far to Mr. Kerry's demand for silence "is remarkable." But Mr. Makovsky was one of many who said he did not expect much to happen until the end of the nine-month timetable, noting that "in the Middle East, the pattern of the past is when there's a breakthrough, it tends to go to the wire." But Yossi Beilin, one of the Israeli architects of the Oslo Peace Accords, said he was unimpressed with the 13 meetings, suggesting that earnest negotiations would have the foursome locked in a room with only occasional breaks to see their families. Instead, he said, the talks are "kind of a hobby," or "moonlighting," at least for the Israelis, noting that Ms. Livni has a full portfolio as justice minister and Mr. Molho a busy law practice. "For both sides the current situation is very, very comfortable," Mr. Beilin said. All of us are playing the game. Many meetings, very serious, good relationship, all issues are on the agenda, fighting the lunatics on both sides, and it's beautiful. The only problem is that there will be an end to it in the coming months, and the admission of failure might be devastating. Jodi Rudoren reported from Jerusalem, and Michael R. Gordon from Rome.