The United States envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell was due to arrive in Israel Wednesday on the second leg of his Middle East trip.
Mitchell has already met with a number of Arab leaders during the trip in an effort to revive stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
After meeting with Morocco's foreign minister, Taieb Fassi Fihri, Mitchell reiterated his country's commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict, something that Israel's new government has so far refrained from explicitly backing.
"We believe that the two-state solution, two states living side by side in peace, is the best and the only way to resolve this conflict, and we will be pursuing that objective in meetings that I will be having in other countries in the region over the next two weeks," Mitchell said in a statement.
He also met with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Tuesday as part of his Middle East tour. Bouteflika welcomed the visit by Mitchell to Algiers, telling the envoy it was "an excellent idea to include North Africa in your consultations."
The pair then and Mitchell then held a closed-door working meeting.
Mitchell's weeklong tour will also bring him to Tunisia, Israel, the Palestinian territories and several other Arab states.
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