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U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a joint meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to try to restart peace talks between the two sides, the White House said. The meeting�the first between the three men�will be held in New York, where the U.N. General Assembly takes place next week. Obama will meet with each leader separately before convening a joint session with them, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in the statement, released on Saturday. Netanyahu�s office said in a statement the Israeli leader had pushed forward his departure for New York to Monday from Wednesday for the purpose of meeting with Obama and Abbas. �Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes the United States� invitation for talks with President Barack Obama and for a trilateral meeting with President Obama and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas,� the statement said. A senior Netanyahu aide added, �The meeting will be held without preconditions, as the prime minister had always wanted.� The White House had been coy on Friday about the chances of a sit-down between the three parties. Officials said the event illustrated the president�s personal commitment to peace in the region. U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell just ended a week of shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East with little to show for his efforts as Israel and the Palestinians dug in to opposing positions on Jewish settlements. Officials from both sides, while reluctant to spurn Obama�s invitation for a meeting, had acknowledged that a photograph and handshake at the United Nations would not be enough to relaunch the peace process without substantial shifts in negotiating positions.