U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began talks Tuesday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas-the first of several talks leading to the new direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Expectations are low and U.S. officials said that success in Thursday's negotiations may be defined by an agreement to meet again. U.S. President Barack Obama is prepared to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas on Wednesday. The goal is to formalize a peace agreement within the next year that will lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. But with the two sides disagreeing on key issues, such as controversial settlement freezes, the talks are expected to be slow and difficult. Neither Clinton nor Abbas gave public remarks about the anticipated hard work as the chief U.S. diplomat prepared to host the Palestinian and Israeli leaders on Thursday for the first direct peace talks since December 2008. The meeting with Abbas was the first of Clinton's six scheduled meetings Tuesday. She will then meet with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, and the representative for the Middle East quartet, Tony Blair. Clinton will meet last with Netanyahu at 2345 GMT, ahead of Obama's Oval Office address to the nation to discuss the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq.
