Obama opens long-shot talks on Mideast peace

[babylonsister]

Obama opens long-shot talks on Mideast peace
With both sides far apart on all issues, Obama brings Mideast leaders together for peace talks

ROBERT BURNS
AP News

Sep 01, 2010 06:24 EDT


President Barack Obama is opening a new round of Mideast peacemaking, bringing Israeli and Palestinian leaders together Wednesday for talks aimed at forging agreement within one year on a two-state solution: a sovereign Palestine and a secure Israel.

Expectations were low as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived Tuesday for preparatory talks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has spent months coaxing the parties back to the bargaining table.

The talks will be the first face-to-face sessions between the Israelis and Palestinians since December 2008, but the two sides are far apart on all key issues, so major progress in the early going is seen as unlikely.

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