Jerusalem - Washington's special envoy to the Middle East ended a more than two-hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday, preparing the ground for a one-day visit by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. George Mitchell headed for the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi, where he was expected to join Clinton for talks on Saturday with travelling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A US embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv, Kurt Hoyer, said the exact details of Clinton's visit had yet to be worked out, but she was likely to arrive in Israel on Sunday for several hours of talks, without spending the night.
"I look forward to our discussions and the discussions with Secretary of State Clinton to try to re-launch the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians as soon as possible," Netanyahu told Mitchell at their preparatory meeting in Jerusalem, according to a statement from his office.
Mitchell for his part called a comprehensive peace in the region a "common objective."
Clinton's visit will be the firsts since the Netanyahu government took office in March and comes amid an intensive, but so far unsuccessful US effort to revive peace talks, broken off late last year as Israel headed into new elections.
Despite a series of visits to the region by Mitchell and a three- way summit held in New York last month, the Obama administration has thus far failed to push the sides closer to the negotiation table. A key disagreement is ongoing Israeli construction in West Bank settlements.
