Mitchell seeks "early relaunch" of Mideast talks

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell is seen before his meeting with Israel's President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem September 13, 2009.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's special peace envoy George Mitchell said on Thursday he was seeking a quick resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks, but Israel voiced pessimism on prospects for a deal.

"We're going to continue with our efforts to achieve an early relaunch of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians," Mitchell told reporters as he met Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.

He said that would be "an essential step" toward comprehensive peace in the region, involving Israel and its neighbors, including Syrian and Lebanon.

Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said earlier he would tell Mitchell there was no chance of a comprehensive peace deal with the Palestinians for many years.

"I will tell him clearly, there are many conflicts in the world that haven't reached a comprehensive solution and people learned to live with it," Lieberman said.

U.S. officials said before Mitchell's visit there were no expectations of a breakthrough but the process was being pursued with a sense of urgency.

King Abdullah of Jordan, whose country has made peace with Israel and plays an important role in advancing the peace process with the Palestinians, was quoted on Thursday as saying in an interview "we are sliding back into the darkness."

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)