US envoy to the Mideast peace process George Mitchell said Wednesday that Palestinian and Israeli leaders were tackling the tough issues up front during talks in Jerusalem.
Mitchell spoke with reporters following a trilateral meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mitchell himself.
The official announced a series of meetings between Clinton and Abbas, and later King Abdullah II in Jordan, as well as an agreement for Abbas and Netanyahu to meet the following week "to lay the groundwork for the next round of talks at the leadership level."
The location of the next round of talks was not announced.
Mitchell said he would also continue bi-lateral talks with regional officials, starting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus, along with his foreign minister. Mitchell said he would then travel to Beirut on Friday, for discussions with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his parliamentary speaker.
"I will brief the Syrian and Lebanese leaders and seek to elicit their support for our shared goal of a comprehensive regional peace and will do the same in the next few days with many other leaders from this region," Mitchell explained.
The official also stressed US President Barack Obama's goal for Mideast peace efforts, which included "full normalization of relations between Israel and all of its neighbors in the region," and did not discount questions around a possible push toward a peace deal with Israel and Syria.
Discussions with Lebanon and Syria, Mitchell added, are "complementary and mutually beneficial if we can proceed toward comprehensive peace on more than one track."
Throughout his talk with reporters, Mitchell refused to give information as to whether a deal had been reached around settlement construction, but stressed the seriousness with which both Netanyahu and Abbas were approaching the talks.
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