US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has returned to the West Asia region on his first mission since the United States abandoned efforts to salvage direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians. After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister, George Mitchell will meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah today. While acknowledging inability to convince Israel for settlement freeze, US secretary of State Ms. Clinton has said that the United States will continue to push towards direct peace talks, as a Palestinian state achieved through negotiation is inevitable. She said that the United States is serious about pushing forward a peace agreement and laying the foundations for a future Palestinian state. Clinton also criticized the two parties, who had not yet made the difficult decisions that peace requires. Direct talks broke down in September, just three weeks after their launch, after Israel refused to renew freeze on settlement construction. Palestinians refused to negotiate directly without a construction freeze in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.