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Ammon News - WASHINGTON - U.S. officials will meet Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian officials this week to try to bring Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

Dennis Ross, a White House official, and David Hale, who became the acting U.S. Middle East peace envoy following the resignation of George Mitchell last month, will meet unnamed Israeli officials, said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

"As part of our efforts to get the parties back to the negotiating table, Dennis Ross and David Hale are in the region today. They are consulting with the Israelis," he told reporters.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined comment on whether he had met the U.S. officials.

Toner said that Hale would meet later this week separately with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Jordanian and Egyptian officials.

A Palestinian official said Hale would meet Abbas on Thursday in Amman.

Three years into his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama has little to for his effort to revive direct negotiations between the two sides apart from a few weeks when they resumed last September before unraveling.

Among the unresolved issues are the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of Jewish settlements on occupied land that the Palestinians want for their state, the status of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital, and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

*Reuters