Obama urges Israelis, Palestinians to "move forward"

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to "move forward" in their negotiations.

U.S. President Barack Obama watches Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) shake hands during a trilateral meeting in New York September 22, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

"It is past time to talk about starting negotiations," Obama told reporters after separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and before their three-way meeting in New York. "It is time to move forward."

"It is time to show the flexibility and common sense and sense of compromise that's necessary to achieve our goals," Obama said. "We have to find a way forward."

He urged efforts to "summon the will to break the deadlock that has trapped generations of Israelis and Palestinians in an endless cycle of conflict and suffering."

"We cannot continue the same pattern of taking tentative steps forward and then stepping back," Obama said. "Success depends on all sides acting with a sense of urgency."