US President Barack Obama will hold separate meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in New York, USA, before meeting them together Tuesday 22 September, in an effort to jump-start talks that have stalled largely because of Palestinian intransigence in the face of continued Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
None of the three sides expect much to come out of the meetings, say observers, who note that Obama is keen to have something to show leading up to the UN General Assembly meetings and the subsequent G-20 meetings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Al-Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
