The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama's special Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell is returning to the region to continue urgent efforts to break stalled negotiations over Israeli settlements. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters that Mitchell would leave Washington on Monday evening and hold meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials later in the week, adding that the specifics of the envoy's schedule are not fully laid out yet. Crowley said the U.S. is focused on its long-term goal of promoting negotiations on a "two-state solution" in which an independent Palestinian state exists beside a secure Israel. Crowley encouraged "constructive actions" toward reaching that goal. Israel defied U.S. and international demands to extend a 10-month slowdown on settlement construction in the West Bank, raising the prospect of the Palestinians abandoning the negotiations in protest. The slowdown expired on Sunday and the Palestinians had been threatening to walk out of talks if it was not extended.
