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Low US hopes for Mid-East summit

Other News Materials 21 September 2009 22:30 (UTC +04:00)

The US has no "grand expectations" from the summit of Israeli and Palestinian leaders which President Obama is to host on Tuesday, the White House says, BBC reported.

The talks in New York are to discuss the possibility of re-starting the Middle East peace process.

But both Israeli and Palestinian leaders have accused each other of blocking the initiative.

Israel has rejected US and Palestinian demands for a total freeze before a new round of talks can take place.

Mr Obama is bringing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas together for the first time since Mr Netanyahu came to office nearly six ago.

"We have no grand expectations out of just one meeting," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Israeli and Palestinian participants also expressed low expectations on the meeting, taking place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, and say it is not in itself the start of new negotiations.

Disagreements over the settlements issue have blocked all attempts to restart the talks so far.

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