Obama determined to continue with Middle East peace efforts

New York, Sep 23(ANI): United States President Barack Obama has said that he would continue with his administration's diplomatic efforts for Middle East peace until negotiations are relaunched between Israel and Palestine.

Obama said this after a trilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"It is absolutely critical that we get this issue resolved. We cannot continue the same pattern of taking a few tentative steps forward and then stepping back," Csmoniter.com quoted Obama, as saying.

To restart the peace talks, Obama further directed top foreign policy officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Middle East envoy George Mitchell, to keep up the efforts with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Meanwhile, several Middle East analysts emphasized that Obama was simply learning the lesson of past US presidents, and has understood that no solution can be reached until both the parties got involved.

"It's a very good thing that Obama is not giving up, but I think he is learning that this won't happen quickly and will probably take a long time," said Doron Ben-Atar, a specialist in Middle East affairs at Fordham University in New York.

"At the same time it is just untrue to say that it serves no purpose for the Americans to push. When they don't, things don't just stay the same, they get worse," he added.

Obama also met both the leaders separately before the trilateral meeting. It was also the first meeting between Netanyahu and Abbas. (ANI)