US President Barack Obama called Friday on Israel to extend a freeze on settlements as he pledged a never-say-die approach to the new Middle East peace talks, calling the effort "a risk worth taking."
Saying last week's launch of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations "exceeded lots of people's expectations," Obama looked to the September 26 expiration of the partial freeze on new Jewish housing in the West Bank as a key hurdle.
"A major bone of contention during the course of this month is going to be the potential lapse of the settlement moratorium," Obama told a White House press conference.
He said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House that, "given so far the talks are moving forward in a constructive way, it makes sense to extend that moratorium."
Obama said he also told Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas -- who was in Washington on September 2 for the negotiations launched by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- to give Netanyahu room to maneuver.
He urged Abbas to "show the Israeli public that you are serious and constructive in these talks so that the politics for prime minister Netanyahu, if he were to extend the settlement moratorium, would be a little bit easier."
Israeli officials have indicated that they will not extend the freeze as it is.
Obama sounded cautiously optimistic as Clinton was due in Egypt and Israel next week for round two of the first direct talks to be held since December 2008.
"I remain hopeful but this is going to be tough," Obama said.