Vague Middle East talks

Settlements, refugees, and hardliners are still the major impediments to clinching and observing a peace agreement

Propelled by the United States, the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relaunched direct peace talks in Washington on Sept 2, the first direct talks since Israel mounted a devastating military assault on the Gaza Strip in December 2008.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the US believed these negotiations, aimed at achieving a final peace agreement, "can be completed within a year".