Special envoy of U.S. President George Mitchell concluded on Sunday another round of shuttle consultations on the Middle East, once again failing to back Israel and the Palestinians to the peace table.

On Sunday he met with the head of the Israeli Government of Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak - the second part of the visit was a meeting at which, as announced by the Office of the Prime Minister, “the parties continued to discuss ways of advancing the peace process.”

The debate will resume next week in Washington, between Netanyahu and Yitzhak Molho, and a senior Ministry of Defense, Michael Duke.

Earlier this week, Mitchell met in Ramallah with the head of the Palestine National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, and traveled to Cairo for talks with the Egyptian leadership, which often assumes the functions of a mediator in Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Final press release contact the Mitchell described as “useful and effective”, but were stingy on details.

The main obstacle to the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, which were interrupted at the end of last year, considered to be the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The Palestinians refuse to return to the peace talks without a complete cessation of settlement activities. Israel, despite U.S. pressure, is ready to discuss only a partial and temporary moratorium.