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Summary
Israeli and Palestinian leaders begin direct peace negotiations in Washington Thursday, a day after pledging to work to end a decades-long conflict. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opened a day of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations with a Foggy Bottom pep talk but warned that the U.S. won't impose a solution on parties deeply divided over the issues of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land and Hamas attacks on the Jewish state. President Barack Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Wednesday in the Oval Office. Obama, flanked by Netanyahu and Abbas, vowed to do all he could to help achieve a peace agreement.We are but five men, Obama said. But when we come together, we will not be alone. We will be joined by the generations of those who have gone before.
