WASHINGTON: The United States has a "strong belief" that direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians will resume "at some point in time," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Thursday.
"This is a decision that is first and foremost up to Israeli and Palestinian leaders," Crowley said when asked about the likelihood of direct peace talks.
"I think we have a strong belief that at some point in time, direct negotiations will be renewed. Whether that’s days from now, weeks from now, I don’t think we’re in a position to say at this point."
The comments came as US envoy George Mitchell began a new round of discussions in the region.
"Our overall purpose with any conversation that we have with Palestinian and Israeli authorities is to move to direct negotiations," Crowley said.
Hopes of new talks have been spurred by the visit to the United States this month of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who emerged from White House talks with US President Barack Obama pledging he wanted a deal.
Obama said he hoped direct talks would start before an announced Israeli freeze on settlement building in Arab east Jerusalem expires on Sept. 25.
Netanyahu said there were concrete measures the Israelis were willing to make to pave the way, but he has not yet promised to extend the freeze.
Mitchell has a busy schedule in the region, with talks set for late Thursday with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Netanyahu on Friday.
The US envoy is to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday along with prime minister Salam Fayyad.
Also Saturday, Mitchell was to speak with former British prime minister Tony Blair, who represents the Mideast Quartet of the US, European Union, Russia and United Nations, along with European diplomatic chief Catherine Ashton.
Mitchell’s schedule calls for a stop Sunday in Egypt for talks with President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. Mitchell’s final stop will be Abu Dhabi for a meeting with Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
