Obama meets Abbas, ups pressure on Israel

US President Barack Obama Thursday renewed pressure on Israel but rejected a timetable for his peace drive, noting domestic pressures heaped on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As Obama met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas for the first time as president, he called for a halt to settlement building on the occupied West Bank, while his administration sparred with Israel over the sensitive issue.
Obama vowed an "aggressive" mediation effort, ahead of his visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt next week, while Abbas pledged to live up to all previous peace agreements and warned "time is of the essence" for a two-state solution.
Abbas presented the US president with a document outlining ideas about how to take the peace process forward.
"The document does not veer from the (US-backed) roadmap and the Arab peace initiative," Abbas told AFP. "It contains ideas to introduce implementation mechanisms for these two plans."
A top Abbas aide said Obama had promised to study the text.
The US president recalled that last week he had been "very clear" with Netanyahu about the need to "stop settlements."