US envoy George Mitchell today stepped up the pace of efforts to avert the collapse of Middle East peace talks launched four weeks ago, saying all efforts to "find common ground" would continue.
Mr Mitchell was speaking after meeting Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who says he will pull out of the talks unless Israel extends a freeze on new building in Jewish West Bank settlements, which expired this week.
Mr Mitchell met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, saying the United States was "determined more than ever" to achieve Middle East peace.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters in Ramallah that Mr Mitchell would be going back to Mr Netanyahu today and would be back to see Abbas the following day.
Mr Abbas has said he is postponing a decision on the fate of the talks until the Arab League can discuss the issue at a meeting in Cairo next week.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was due to meet Mr Abbas later today. The European Union is part of the quartet of Middle East peace mediators, along with the United States, Russia and the United Nations.
However the United States is seen as the only power capable of bringing pressure to bear on both sides.
Mr Netanyahu has urged that the "positive" negotiations he has held with Mr Abbas since direct talks resumed on September 2nd after a 20 month suspension must be continued.
The talks were plunged into crisis after a 10-month moratorium ordered by Mr Netanyahu on new housing construction in Israeli settlements in the occupied territory expired on Monday.
Mr Netanyahu, whose governing coalition is dominated by pro-settler parties including his own right-wing Likud, rebuffed calls by US president Barack Obama and other foreign leaders to extend the partial freeze.
The Palestinians warn the growth of the settlements, built on land Israel has occupied since 1967, will render impossible the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip - the stated goal of the peace talks.
Close to half a million Jews live on territory where the Palestinians aim to establish their state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel calls the West Bank "Judea and Samaria" - land where the Jews trace their biblical history.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee, which is chaired by Mr Abbas, will convene in Ramallah on Saturday to discuss the fate of the peace talks, PLO officials said.
Reuters