Israeli, Palestinian Leaders Relaunch Direct Talks

Obama Encouraged by Leaders' Seriousness at Talks: White House

Direct Mideast Peace Talks "Long, Productive": US Envoy

Backgrounder: Palestinian-Israeli Peace Talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday resumed direct talks in Washington after a 20-month hiatus.

The talks are aimed at ending a six-decade conflict between the two sides within a year.

The first round of talks, hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was held in the State Department building.

"You each have taken an important step toward freeing your peoples from the shackles of a history we cannot change and moving toward a future of peace and dignity that only you can create," Clinton said at the opening session of the direct talks.

"We understand the suspicion and skepticism" many felt about the process, she said, but the U.S. believed the Palestinian and Israeli leaders could succeed.

Solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was in the national interests of the U.S., she said, vowing her country would play the role of "an active and sustained partner in the process."

"We cannot and will not impose a solution. Only you can make the decisions necessary to reach an agreement and secure a peaceful future for the Israeli and Palestinian people," she added.

Netanyahu said any peace agreement must take into account the " genuine security needs" of Israel.

He said a true and lasting peace will be achieved only with " mutual and painful concessions from both sides."

Abbas said direct talks should lead to a peace agreement within one year.

He once again called on Israel to stop all settlement activities in the West Bank and lift the embargo on the people in Gaza.

Following the opening session, Clinton, Netanyahu and Abbas will continue to hold a private meeting. It is expected that Netanyahu and Abbas will hold further talks later this month in Egypt.

Since he took office, U.S. President Barack Obama has made the Middle East peace process one of his top diplomatic priorities and spared no effort to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiation table.

Despite their small sizes, Israel and Palestinian areas have important implication on U.S. overall strategy in the region. President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton have both said solving the conflict between the two sides concerns the national interests of the U.S..

Analysts believed that Israeli-Palestinian conflict has important implications on strategic issues, including Middle East oil supply, U.S. image in the Muslim world and U.S. isolation effort on Iran.

On Wednesday, after holding bilateral meetings with the four other leaders involved in the Middle East peace process, Obama said that the United States is ready to seek a lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

However, the peace talks, since it first started in 1993, have always been in the haunting cycle of "hope-to-collapse."

The issue of settlement construction has posed an immediate challenge to the direct talks, with Netanyahu on Tuesday saying he would not extend a moratorium that expires on Sept. 26.

Incitement from both sides, such as the killing of four Israelis on Tuesday by a gunman near the West Bank city of Hebron, could also derail the fragile peace process.

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