Retrospective: Middle East peace talks (12 images)

United States President Barack Obama meets President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, September 1, 2010. This is one of several meetings between the President and Middle East Leaders in advance of the opening of the first direct talks in two years between Israel and the Palestinian Authority scheduled to begin at the State Department in Washington, D.C. tomorrow. UPI/Ron Sachs/Pool

From left to right in foreground holding commemorative T-shirts: Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. The occasion is the Peace Accord signing at the Clinton White House between the USA, the PLO and Israel. Photot aken September 13, 1993 by the White House. (UPI Photo/The White House/Files)

VAT2001103002 - 30 OCTOBER 2001 - VATICAN CITY: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, second right, gives a gift from Bethlehem to Pope John Paul II, right, during his visit to the Vatican on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001. The Palestinian leader called on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Tuesday to go back to the negotiating table and save the peace process in the Middle East. Arafat, who was in Rome on an official visit, also said that the United States, Europe and the United Nations must play a strong role in the region. rlw/apo/Arafat Press Office UPI

President Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin embrace as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat watches September 17, 1978 during a ceremony in the East Room of the White house where two agreements providing for negotiations of a full Middle East peace treaty within three months was signed at the conclusion of the Camp David summit. (UPI Photo/Darryl Heikes/Files).