US President Barack Obama's special Middle East envoy George Mitchell said on Thursday that he was seeking an "early relaunch" of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

"We're going to continue with our efforts to achieve an early relaunch of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians," Mitchell was quoted by local news service Ynet as telling reporters before his meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.

The US envoy, who arrived in Israel Wednesday evening for a new round of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, went on to say that the US administration is committed to the peace process, and that while the Americans are aware there will be many hurdles along the way, they are ready to tackle them.

Before the meeting, Peres said that "This is the time for progress, it's time to get down to business."

Mitchell is scheduled to meet separately with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak later in the day. He is also slated to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday and meet Palestinian leaders over the weekend.

Mitchell's aides said earlier he believes that peace talks between Israel and Palestinians, which were suspended after Israel' s military operation in the Gaza Strip in January, can be restarted in the near future, and that the Palestinian National Authority is a partner for such talks, according to Ynet.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2009)