Abbas Seeking to Corner Netanyahu over Negotiations (Palestinian-Report: Israel-Peace‪)‬

Several months after his address in Cairo to the Muslim world, in which he outlined his administration's Middle East policy, notably his bid to restart stalled peace negotiations, US President Barack Obama has met unyielding resistance from Israel over his demand to freeze settlement activities in the Palestinian territories to pave the way for the talks. Against all the odds, Obama hosted a three-way summit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's session in New York in September. It was an occasion for the American president to reaffirm his commitment to move forward with peace negotiations, without waiting for a complete freeze on Jewish settlements expansion in the West Bank. The US administration is highly concerned about restarting the peace process, which Obama highlighted as the cornerstone of his Mideast policy in his Cairo speech, noted AN NAHAR's correspondent in Ramallah, Mohammed Hawash, in an analysis on Sept. 27. Obama tried to divert attention from the New York summit's poor outcome to the need to restart negotiations at any price, despite the immovable stance of Israel's extreme right government.