NEW YORK (CNN)  -- Prodding Israel and the Palestinian Authority to restart talks aimed at a permanent resolution of their decades-old conflict, President  Obama dropped a demand for an Israeli settlement freeze, U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials said. Benjamin Netanyahu, left, President Obama and Mahmoud Abbas. "Simply put, it is past time to talk about starting negotiations. It is time to move forward," Obama told reporters before a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "It is time to show the flexibility and common sense and sense of compromise that is necessary to achieve our goals," Obama said.
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NEW: Israel agrees to some limits on West Bank settlement growth
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"It is past time to talk about starting negotiations," President Obama says
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Obama meets separately, then jointly, with Netanyahu and Abbas
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Meetings come as hopes for renewed Israeli-Palestinian talks have dimmed
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"It's been apparent for some time that the Israelis were going to fall short of what is necessary on the settlement freeze," one senior @placeholder official said.
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He said @placeholder also agreed not to encourage Israelis to move to settlements, which would increase the population.
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The Palestinian aide to  @placeholder said Obama's failure to secure a settlement freeze has weakened him in the eyes of the Palestinian delegation, because it casts doubt on his ability to move Israel during final status negotiations.
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The Israeli diplomat said that @placeholder would "take into account" the previous negotiations, but stressed his country's longstanding position that "nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to."