Violence flared anew as the leaders arrived in Washington

Israeli Prime Mimister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mohmmud Abbas will meet . After relaunching talks after 20^th month hiatus an dseeking deal with one year that will setup an independent state in Palestinian state side-by-side with asecure Israel.

During the political meeting held on Washington Obama asked pivotal U.S congressional election year ,urged both sides to grasp the chance for peace at the white house on Wednesday.He also said”This moment of opportunity may not soon come again. They cannot afford to let it slip away," after a day of personal diplomacy on a problem that has confounded generations of U.S. leaders.

But the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank looms over the talks, with the Palestinians saying they will drop out of the negotiations unless Israel extends its self-imposed moratorium on new settlement construction when it expires on Sept. 26.

Thursday will see both sides get down to business after the pomp of their White House reception.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will host the State Department talks, with opening statements expected around 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT).

U.S. Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell, who has been shuttling between the two camps for months to lay down the parameters for the negotiations, will give a public briefing after talks conclude to explain what -- if anything -- has been accomplished.

Violence flared anew as the leaders arrived in Washington, underscoring the challenges ahead.Four Israeli setters are killed by the Islamist group hamas in a shooting attack in the West Bank on Tuesday and another two people are injured.

Both Netanyahu and Abbas condemned Tuesday's attack, which Obama described as "senseless slaughter.he pushes for a united front against Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Both Netanyahu and Abbas were conciliatory after their meetings with Obama on Wednesday but both also stressed their own political imperatives: security for Israel in Netanyahu's case, and a halt to settlement activity for Abbas.

Abbas in particular is in a delicate position and his party holds sway, and analysts say it would be politically perilous for him to accept resumption of settlement construction on land captured in the 1967 war .

Obama's said  Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, drawing in two key moderate Arab leaders whose countries already have peace deals with Israel.

Mubarak spokesman Soliman Awaad said all sides should be ready for long, tough negotiations -- provided the talks are not quickly derailed by the settlement issue.