President Barack Obama’s first personal foray into Middle East mediation produced an unenthusiastic handshake between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in New York on Tuesday but no commitment on when they would meet again.

The US president held separate meetings with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, before hosting a joint meeting with both men. It was the first encounter between the two since Mr Netanyahu formed his rightwing coalition in March and took place despite his refusal to meet US and Palestinian demands for a total freeze on Israeli settlement activity.