Obama and Netanyahu to meet as peace effort flounders

By Ross Colvin and Jeffrey Heller

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama was due to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Monday amid floundering U.S. efforts to jump-start stalled Middle East peace talks.

The meeting between the two leaders is likely to anger Palestinians, who are already frustrated by what they perceive as backsliding by the Obama administration on the contentious issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

An Obama administration official said the president would meet Netanyahu, in Washington to address a forum of North American Jewish leaders, but offered no details about what they would discuss.

There had been doubts about whether Obama would even meet Netanyahu until Sunday afternoon, when the U.S. official confirmed Israeli media reports.

Aides to Netanyahu said the two leaders would discuss the peace process and the nuclear stand-off with Iran.

Despite the Obama administration giving high priority to restarting peace talks and dispatching envoys to the region, prospects for a meeting between the Israelis and Palestinians soon have grown ever fainter.

Obama's drive to revive the peace process faced a setback last week. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a pivotal partner in any negotiations, accused Washington of retreating from its demand for a freeze on settlements and threatened not to stand in elections in January.

Such a move could force a postponement in peace talks for months to come.