Obama Invites Mid-East Leaders To Washington For Israel-Palestine Peace Talks

April 21, 2009 8:12 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - U.S. President Barack Obama has invited the leaders of Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority to Washington for separate consultation meetings on the Middle East peace process.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday that the dates of Obama's meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are being worked out.

"With each of them, the president will discuss ways the United States can strengthen and deepen our partnerships with them, as well as the steps all parties must take to help achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians and between Israel and the Arab states," Gibbs said, according to CNN.

Leaders of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, was not invited as the U.S. consider the group as a terrorist organization.