Erekat claims Mitchell failed so far to get settlement halt

           Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said early Friday afternoon that the US envoy has failed to secure an Israeli agreement to halt settlement activity, but that the discussions are continuing. "There is no agreement yet with the Israeli side and no middle ground," said Erekat. Israel reportedly is ready for a settlement construction freeze of up to nine months or so. A Kol Yisrael reporter says that a senior official in the office of Palestinian Authority President Abbas told him that it would be enough for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to announce a readiness to stop settlement construction and to discuss the status of Jerusalem in order to pave the way for a three-way summit of Abbas-Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September. (12,00)