US special envoy for the Middle East George Mitchell concluded on Sunday his latest swing through the Middle East in a renewed attempt to push forward the long-stalled peace process.

Mitchell's fourth regional tour since he assumed the post in January, came after one week of US President Barack Obama's keynote soothing speech to the Muslim world in Cairo, during which he pledged to spawn a "new beginning" of the US-Muslim ties.

His five-day tour included stops in Israeli, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, aiming at pushing forward a comprehensive peace in the region and ending the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict.

Support for two-state solution

During meetings with regional leaders, the former senator echoed Obama's support for the two-state solution which is seen as the only viable answer to the Middle East conflict.

Mitchell said on Tuesday during talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres that "We are working hard to achieve the objective of comprehensive peace in the Middle East... including a Palestinian state side by side in peace and security with the Jewish state of Israel."

"Israelis and Palestinians have a responsibility to meet their obligations under the Road Map," he added, stressing that a peaceful solution is in the interest of not only the two sides but also the United States.

During his stay Wednesday in West Bank city of Ramallah, Mitchell assured the Palestinians after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Washington's commitment to a state of their own, saying President Obama had made it clear "the only viable resolution to this conflict is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states."

On the same day, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told the Egyptian Nile News TV in an interview that Israel would accept the two-state solution sooner or later.

However, the hard-line Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was sworn in on March 31 amid fears of a gloomy future of Israeli-Palestinians issue, has yet publicly endorsed a two-state solution.

Mitchell, who changed the listening mode during his previous visits to a speaking mode, also called on Israel and the Palestinians to meet their obligations and resume peace talks immediately.

In Egypt, the key broker in the region, Mitchell urged Thursday a prompt resumption and early conclusion of Middle East peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.

"We all share an obligation to help create the conditions for prompt resumption and early conclusion of negotiations to achieve a two-sate solution," Mitchell said after meeting with Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu Gheit.

Reassuring and pressing Israel

A rare rift between Israel and the United States has emerged after the US president's blunt words of freezing all Israeli settlement construction, including the "natural growth" of existing ones.

Despite mounting US pressure, Israeli government has so far refused to follow Obama's call of halting all settlements and accepting the two-state solution, which may put the two close allies on the track of collision.

Netanyahu is scheduled to deliver a much-anticipated major policy speech Sunday on his plans for achieving peace and security, in which he is expected to touch the settlement issue and two-state solution.

Meanwhile, as an attempt to temper Israeli anxiety, Mitchell played down the tension between the two sides, saying prior his meeting with the hawkish Israeli prime minister that "We come hereto talk not as adversaries and in disagreement, but as friends in discussion."

The US envoy also reiterated that the US commitment to Israel's security is unquestionable, as he told the Israeli president that "I want to begin by stating again, clearly and emphatically, beyond any doubt, that the US commitment to the security of Israel remains unshakable."