Washington–US special envoy for Middle East peace George Mitchell is expected to return to the region soon and is closer to launching indirect peace talks although nothing is yet set, a US official said on Wednesday.
"We expect Senator Mitchell to return to the region in the very near future … (to) continue our work to get negotiations relaunched as soon as possible," said the official, who spoke on condition that he not be identified.
"We are getting closer to doing that but we don’t have anything locked and loaded ready to announce yet," he added.
Arab League ministers earlier on Wednesday supported the US call for so-called "proximity talks" between Israel and the Palestinians under which Mitchell would shuttle between the two sides in an effort to end the six-decade conflict.
"Mechanically you should expect proximity talks to look roughly like the talks you’ve had about relaunching negotiations over the past year," the official added, without elaborating.
Mitchell has spent more than a year shuttling between the two sides trying to coax them to return to peace talks that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas froze after Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
