Mideast Leaders Meeting at White House Ahead of Peace Talks
VOA News
01 September 2010
U.S. President Barack Obama is hosting Middle East leaders at the White House Wednesday in an effort to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement within a year.
Mr. Obama is holding bilateral meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a day before they officially begin direct negotiations.
President Obama also will meet Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, leaders of the only two Arab nations to have concluded peace deals with Israel.
Meanwhile, hundreds of mourners turned out Wednesday for the funerals for four Israeli settlers who were killed in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank, Tuesday.
The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Palestinian security forces responded by arresting more then 200 people with suspected Hamas links during overnight raids in the West Bank.
Palestinian President Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad both denounced the killings.
Separately, an Israeli settlers group said it would resume settlement construction in the West Bank in protest of the attack. A temporary freeze on settlement building is due to expire September 26.
The settlers group, the Yesha Council, had already been pressuring the Israeli government not to extend the moratorium. But Palestinians want Israel to freeze construction on land they view as part of a future state.
Israeli settlement activity is expected to be a major issue in peace negotiations.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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