Jerusalem  - President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy held talks Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as part of an intense and ongoing - but so far unsuccessful - US bid to revive broken-off peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Mitchell arrived Thursday to prepare for a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, her first to Israel since the Netanyahu government took office in March.

Kurt Hoyer, a spokesman for the US embassy in Tel Aviv, said the visit's exact details had yet to be worked out, but she would likely arrive Sunday for one day of talks, without spending the night.

He was unable to confirm Palestinian reports that Clinton - accompanied by Mitchell - planned to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in emirate of Abu Dhabi on Saturday, before her talks with Netanyahu on Sunday.

Abbas has been travelling this week, moving from Morocco to Jordan, where he arrived late Thursday, and then to the United Arab Emirates. He is expected to continue his travels and would not be in the West Bank city of Ramallah during Clinton's stay on Sunday.

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations broke off late last year, as Israel headed into new elections in which the bloc of right-wing parties headed by Netanyahu's hardline but mainstream Likud won a majority of mandates.

Since Netanyahu formed his government, negotiations have not been revived, with the Palestinians demanding a complete freeze of Israeli construction in West Bank settlements, and that the negotiations pick up from where they left off with the previous Israeli government of former centrist premier Ehud Olmert. (dpa)