Obama nudges Israeli, Palestinian toward talks

— President Barack Obama prodded Israeli and Palestinian leaders to relaunch Mideast peace negotiations Tuesday.

He won an awkward, stone-faced handshake but no other apparent progress beyond a promise to talk about more talks.

There had been hopes for weeks that there might be more to show from the first meeting of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since Netanyahu took office in March - perhaps even a dramatic announcement by Obama of the resumption of the Mideast peace negotiations that broke off over a year ago.

That wasn't to be. Despite months of effort, the sides remain far apart on a staunch Palestinian precondition for talks: that Israel halt all construction of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory. Obama has publicly echoed that demand to Israeli leaders - though the Palestinians noted with displeasure that he used the word "restrain" on Tuesday rather than "halt" or "freeze."

The president hosted the two foes at his New York hotel during a marathon day of diplomacy on the sidelines of this week's United Nations General Assembly gathering. It was a high-stakes gambit that could prove to be a timely personal intervention into a decades-old dispute that Obama has made a presidential priority or a flop that damages Obama's global credibility on a broader scale.

Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, said the president took the risk because he believes the moment is uniquely ripe for progress - and because he felt an in-person display of his rising impatience could help.

So, instead of announcing a new round of peace talks, Obama announced a newly intensified effort to bring them about.

He deployed Mitchell to continue to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials while in New York this week, invited negotiators from both sides to go to Washington next week and asked Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to report to him in mid-October on the status.

"Simply put, it is past time to talk about starting negotiations - it is time to moveforward," Obama declared, displaying an unusual level of public frustration as he prepared to sit down with Netanyahu and Abbas for joint talks after meeting with each separately.

Spanning more than two hours altogether, the talks found all leaders promising to work to resume peace negotiations but also often using language described as "blunt" and "direct." Both leaders kept stressing with Obama their own priorities and fears. Obama in return emphasized a need to take risks and give up some things for a bigger goal, said a senior administration official.

Neither Netanyahu nor Abbas spoke publicly at the meeting site. In a moment deep in symbolism, however, they engaged in an unsmiling and seemingly reluctant handshake at the start of the sit-down, with dozens of cameras clicking to record the moment.

"We can do a lot more if we talk to each other," Netanyahu said later on CNN. "The possibilities are there. Let's get on with it."

Obama praised both Israelis and Palestinians for positive steps. But he made clear that they haven't done nearly enough.

Palestinians, Obama said, must build on recent security improvements and "do more to stop incitement" - meaning that they must stop those who encourage or carry out attacks on Israel. But Abbas' Fatah government is severely hampered in doing so, as Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are led by the government's Islamic militant Hamas rivals.

As for the Israelis, Obama praised their moves to increase Palestinians' freedom of movement and to discuss "important steps to restrain settlement activity." But Israeli officials "need to translate these discussions into real action on this and other issues," he said sharply. In the private talks, he also chided the Israelis for suggesting that new peace talks would not resume on the same terms as last year's round, in which the fate of Jerusalem was expected to be on thetable. Netanyahu now says Jerusalem is off-limits for discussion.

Israel's intense concern about Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program came up briefly, but was not a focus, the official said.

Obama's 12-hour day of international intervention began with an address to aclimate summit, convened by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to create momentum for crucial international climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

With more than 100 world leaders in attendance, Obama urged all to step up their efforts on curbing heat-trapping emissions. He held out the United States as a serious partner, even though he has made little progress in getting a bill through Congress to set mandatory limits on greenhouse gases.

Obama also met with Chinese President Hu Jintao at a fraught time in the Washington-Beijing relationship, saying he wants more cooperative ties with the Asianeconomic and political powerhouse. Despite a dispute over new tariffs Obama has imposed on Chinese tire imports, Hu agreed that the relationship must stay on "the right course."

Over lunch, America's first black president hosted two dozen sub-Saharan African leaders for discussions about boosting opportunities for young people in their poverty-stricken nations. In the evening, he delivered a keynote speech to former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative and was attending U.N. leaders dinner.

Information for this article was contributed by Karin Laub and Amy Teibel of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 10 on 09/23/2009

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