Washington's Middle East envoy George Mitchell met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman on Sunday, in his latest bid to save the faltering direct Israel-Palestinian peace talks. Abdullah also met separately with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, dpa reported. A statement from the royal court said Mitchell briefed the monarch on his efforts to ensure the talks continue following the expiry of Israel's moratorium on construction in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Abdullah meanwhile underlined the "pivotal US role in peace efforts and in finding the suitable environment for continuing the peace negotiations and the achievement of progress towards resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state vision," according to the statement. In his meeting with the king, Abbas "held Israel responsible for halting the talks, citing its continuation of settlement building," a separate statement from the royal court said. Speaking to reporters after his meeting, Abbas said there "there is an impasse, because we cannot carry on with the negotiations, and we have to follow up this impasse with the Arab side". "Of course, we are not going to sever ties with the Americans, and we will continue to have contacts with them to search for solutions, but the settlement building should stop and then we will return to the negotiating table," he said. Abdullah expressed backing for the Palestinian stance and warned that "more tension and war" would be a consequence of failure to find peace in the Middle East.
