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Mitchell due to travel to Middle East

Wednesday, October 07, 2009 WASHINGTON: US special envoy George Mitchell was due to leave Washington later Tuesday for the Middle East for further talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials, a US State Department official said."He's leaving tonight and he plans to have talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials today," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.Mitchell held separate talks here last week with both Israeli and Palestinian envoys as part of efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.The meetings followed up on the September 22 summit US President Barack Obama had in New York with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.Obama's administration has been struggling to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to agree to relaunch their peace talks which were suspended in late December during the Gaza war, with the thorny issue of Jewish settlements the main stumbling block.
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