...peace talks in two weeks' time. The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the leaders of both sides had been invited to meet in Washington with the aim of achieving lasting peace within a year. She urged both sides to be patient.

"The enemies of peace will keep trying to defeat us and to derail these talks. But I ask the parties to persevere, to keep moving forward even through difficult times and to continue working to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region."
Here with his assessment of the announcement is James Reynolds in Washington.

The ambition is simple, and to many it's also staggering. Hillary Clinton aims to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by September next year - not improve it, not get things back on track, but resolve it for good. So at the start of next month, the Israeli and the Palestinian leaders will fly to Washington. They will attend an eve of summit meeting along with President Obama, President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan.