U.S. President Barack Obama said it is "time to move forward" with Middle East peace talks that have sputtered for years, as he met Tuesday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders for the first time since taking office.
In an effort to kick-start negotiations that have been stalled for nearly a year, Obama met with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas separately before the three sat down together.
In a brief photo op before the three-way meeting began, Obama shook hands with both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders before the two reluctantly shook hands, as well.
"Simply put, it is past time to talk about starting negotiations," Obama said. "It is time to move forward."
Obama praised each side for working "tirelessly" to reignite peace talks, but outlined his expectations for both sides going forward.
He said the Palestinians must continue to work toward halting terrorism and "do more to stop incitement."
And while he praised the Israelis for changing policies to increase Palestinians' freedom of movement and talks about restricting Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories, he told officials to "turn these discussions into real action."
While the meeting marked the first time Netanyahu and Abbas have met since the Israeli leader took office in March, the talks were expected to produce little in the way of concrete results.
CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief, Janet Dirks, said Israelis are divided over whether the talks are anything more than "a meaningless photo op."
"After going through what for some has been a lifetime of failed peace talks, many have a jaundiced view. They're not holding their breath and they're not expecting a miracle," Dirks told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel Tuesday morning in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.
"On the sunnier side of the spectrum, some are calling the meeting important for symbolic reasons. At least it's a start to get Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the same room at the same time."
Peace negotiations with the two sides stalled last December, after Israel launched a weeks-long incursion into the Palestinian territories.
They also occur a week after the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, failed to make headway on the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a key roadblock to re-starting peace talks.
The two sides are far apart over what conditions they will agree to in order to resume peace talks, particularly on the settlement issue.
Obama has asked Israel to halt new settlements in Palestinian territory, but Israel has only agreed to a partial stop on settlement construction. Abbas has said a complete halt is key for him to return to the negotiating table.
The half a million Jewish settlers are "a political force" in Israel, Dirks said, and some Israelis blame them for impeding the pathway to peace.
Many were camped outside Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem Tuesday to pressure the prime minister to hold firm on the settlement issue.
"They don't want Benjamin Netanyahu to budge or capitulate at all on the issue of settlement construction," Dirks said. "They said Israel would be the sucker of the region."
However, "the Palestinians say unless Israel freezes settlement construction there won't be any negotiations period," she said.
Either way, it is necessary for the U.S. president to take the lead on Middle East peace issues, experts say.
"The U.S. wants to and the U.S. needs to negotiate in public," Jon Alterman, senior fellow in Middle East policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former State Department official, told The Associated Press. "There's a perceived need for the U.S. to visibly be involved in making progress on Arab-Israeli issues."
With files from The Associated Press
