国际英语新闻：Israeli, Palestinian leaders relaunch direct talks in Washington

Netanyahu said any peace agreement must take into account the " genuine security needs" of Israel.

He said a true and lasting peace will be achieved only with " mutual and painful concessions from both sides."

Abbas said direct talks should lead to a peace agreement within one year.

He once again called on Israel to stop all settlement activities in the West Bank and lift the embargo on the people in Gaza.

Following the opening session, Clinton, Netanyahu and Abbas will continue to hold a private meeting. It is expected that Netanyahu and Abbas will hold further talks later this month in Egypt.

Since he took office, U.S. President Barack Obama has made the Middle East peace process one of his top diplomatic priorities and spared no effort to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiation table.

Despite their small sizes, Israel and Palestinian areas have important implication on U.S. overall strategy in the region. President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton have both said solving the conflict between the two sides concerns the national interests of the U.S..

Analysts believed that Israeli-Palestinian conflict has important implications on strategic issues, including Middle East oil supply, U.S. image in the Muslim world and U.S. isolation effort on Iran.