US President Barack Obama is due to host his first summit of Israeli and Palestinian leaders in New York ahead of the United Nations General Assembly.
President Obama is bringing together Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time since Mr Netanyahu took office in March. The leaders will be discussing the possibility of re-launching peace talks, rather than specific stumbling blocks.
Mr Obama will meet the Middle East leaders separately before hosting trilateral talks, but Washington said that there are no "grand expectations" ahead of the summit. Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected US and Palestinian demands for a moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank.
Last week, the US envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, left his latest round of diplomacy without reaching any agreement. Relations between Washington and Jerusalem are facing the worst strains in a decade, as President Obama want to press for a two-state solution.
Israeli Foreign Minister Dany Ayalon said that the most significant aspect of the current talks in New York was that they were taking place at all.












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