President Bush, center, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas walk to the opening session of the Mideast conference Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Washington ? President Bush expressed concern Tuesday about the risk of failure in the first major Mideast peace talks in seven years, warning that could spawn a generation of radicals and extremists. Still, he said, “It is worth it to try.”

Bush cautioned it would take time for Israelis and Palestinians to reach an agreement. The goal is to reach an accord by the end of Bush’s presidency.

“I don’t think it’s a risk to try for peace,” the president said in an interview with reporters from The Associated Press. “I think that’s an obligation.”

While Bush has been criticized for standing back from Mideast peacemaking for most of his presidency, he described himself as “very engaged, up to the moment” in bringing Israel, the Palestinians and more than 40 countries together for a conference in Annapolis, Md., to launch the first major peacemaking effort in seven years. The last significant attempt at Mideast peacemaking was at the end of the Clinton administration in 2000. Its failure was followed by a Palestinian uprising and violence.

He pronounced the Annapolis gathering a “successful conference” – primarily because of the international participation that he said he had worked very hard personally to make a reality. “A moment like today just doesn’t happen. It requires work to lay the groundwork for,” Bush said.

His goal was to put Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a better position to make concessions, when they face enormous pressure from domestic factions.

“They’re going to have to make tough choices,” the president said. “And what they’re going to need is they’re going to need the international – particularly the neighborhood – saying it’s OK.”

While Olmert and Abbas are politically weak, Bush said, “Generally, if a leader is able to promote peace, genuine peace, it will help their standing with the people.”

“The danger is for the Palestinians that unless there’s a vision described, that people can aspire to and hope for, it is conceivable that we could lose an entire generation – or a lot of a generation – to radicals and extremists,” Bush said.

“There has to be something more positive … than which is on the horizon today,” the president said.