Obama Begins Mid-East Peace Talks

President Barack Obama opened the first round of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations Wednesday in nearly two years by challenging Mideast leaders to put aside decades of antagonism and reach a peace accord within the next year.

"Do we have the wisdom and the courage to walk the path of peace?" Obama asked, standing alongside leaders of Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinians in the East Room of the White House.

Each leader pledged to work towards an agreement and expressed hope that the intensive talks that began Wednesday with a series of one-on-one meetings with Obama and continue Thursday at the State Department would eventually yield a breakthrough. The leaders made the statements to reporters and a small audience just before a working dinner at the White House.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “my partner in peace.”