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JERUSALEM : US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Israel on Monday on a US push to jumpstart Middle East peace talks with Washington's peace envoy George Mitchell also on whistlestop regional tour.
Gates's talks in Israel are expected to centre on Iran's disputed nuclear drive while Mitchell will focus on Washington's drive to reach a comprehensive peace between Israel, the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon.
The US defence secretary will meet his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his one-day visit, with tensions between the two close allies at a level not seen in years over Israel's refusal to halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Mitchell, meanwhile, is due to hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before heading to the West Bank for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and then Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.
Egypt is a key regional player and has been mediating unity talks between rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas and between Israel and Hamas for a prisoner swap to try to secure the release of an Israeli soldier held in Gaza.
Washington is committed to a "comprehensive peace in the Middle East and that includes Israel and Palestine, Israel and Syria, Israel and Lebanon and normal relations with all countries in the regions," Mitchell was quoted as saying after meeting Barak in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Mitchell began his latest regional tour in Damascus, his second visit since June to a country that US President Barack Obama has sought to re-engage as part of a changed approach to the region from his predecessor George W. Bush.
In the Syrian capital, the former US senator said he had a "very candid and positive conversation" with President Bashar al-Assad.
"I discussed with President Assad the prospects for moving forward on our goals of comprehensive peace in the region and improved bilateral ties between Syria and the United States," said Mitchell, who played a key role in brokering the Good Friday peace accords in Northern Ireland in 1998.
Obama is determined to reach a comprehensive peace between Israel and all its Arab neighbours in order to guarantee "stability, security and prosperity" in the region, Mitchell said in Damascus.
"If we are to succeed, we will need Arabs and Israelis alike to work with us to bring about comprehensive peace.
"We will welcome the full cooperation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic in this historic endeavour."
Syria and Israel held four rounds of indirect preliminary negotiations through Turkish mediators last year but Syria broke them off in December after Israel launched its deadly war against the Gaza Strip.
In Israel, discord on settlements is likely to dominate Mitchell's meetings, with hawkish premier Netanyahu so far refusing to heed repeated US calls for Israel to halt all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.
"Naturally even within this friendly relationship there isn't total agreement on everything and on several issues we are trying to reach that understanding in order for us to be able to promote our common interests of peace, security and stability," Netanyahu told the cabinet on Sunday.
The sides are close to a compromise under which the United States would allow Israel to finish a limited number of construction projects that are well under way in the Palestinian territory, according to the Israeli press.
"The Americans are beginning to understand that the projects underway... cannot be stopped," Industry Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer told public radio on Monday.
- AFP/ir
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