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US Middle East envoy George Mitchell
In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the meeting was "good and productive," and that Mitchell now hoped to see the indirect talks start before he leaves the region on Sunday.
Mitchell, who is to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday, has engaged in months of shuttle diplomacy in the hopes of launching the indirect talks.
But Israel on Wednesday poured cold water on the prospect of success of such negotiations, with one of Netanyahu's inner circle saying the so-called proximity talks were destined to fail.
"This won't work... indirect talks, proximity talks will not yield results," intelligence minister and deputy prime minister Dan Meridor said in remarks published on the front page of the Jerusalem Post.
"I hope, yes, but I think not. Everyone will want to pull America to their own side, and they won't get closer, they will get further apart," he told the English-language daily.
"I think we need to go quickly to direct talks."
Abbas said the PLO Executive Committee will convene on Saturday "and decide and say its final word."
"After that, we will inform Mitchell whether we are ready to start the negotiations," he said in a statement after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah II.
Earlier, Abbas met regional broker Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the proximity talks with Israel, a move which has been sanctioned by the Arab League.
On Tuesday, Abbas had expressed doubts about the prospect of re-engaging with Israel after a West Bank mosque went up in flames in an incident he blamed on Jewish settlers, and ultimately, the Israeli government.
Scepticism about a fresh round of talks was widespread, with former top Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Qorei on Wednesday telling the daily Al-Quds that the process would not last very long without firm US guarantees.
"The question to be asked is: will the negotiations which are expected to be resumed, yield any results or not?" asked Qorei, a senior PLO official who headed the previous round of talks before they collapsed 18 months ago when Israel began a bloody 22-day military campaign in Gaza.
"Will it be another (failed) experience or are the Americans offering real guarantees that solutions will be reached to all the core issues such as the borders, Jerusalem, the refugees and water resources?" the Palestinian former premier asked.
The private Israeli television channel 10 described Mitchell's tour of the Middle East as a "farce."
"It's most important for Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmud Abbas not to move forward, but to accuse each other over the future failure of the talks and especially not to appear as the culprit in the eyes of the US," it said.
Eitan Haber, a columnist and former adviser to late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote off any chance of success.
The talks "constitute a waste of money and mostly a waste of time," he wrote in an editorial on the website of Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot.
The Palestinians had agreed in March to take part in proximity talks but pulled out after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 homes in mainly Arab east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians eventually agreed to the talks after receiving US assurances the Jerusalem settlement expansion plan would be shelved.
Israel has imposed a partial and temporary freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, but it does not include occupied and annexed east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for a future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital.
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Mitchell, who is to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Friday, has engaged in months of shuttle diplomacy in the hopes of launching the indirect talks.
But Israel on Wednesday poured cold water on the prospect of success of such negotiations, with one of Netanyahu's inner circle saying the so-called proximity talks were destined to fail.
"This won't work... indirect talks, proximity talks will not yield results," intelligence minister and deputy prime minister Dan Meridor said in remarks published on the front page of the Jerusalem Post.
"I hope, yes, but I think not. Everyone will want to pull America to their own side, and they won't get closer, they will get further apart," he told the English-language daily.
"I think we need to go quickly to direct talks."
Abbas said the PLO Executive Committee will convene on Saturday "and decide and say its final word."
"After that, we will inform Mitchell whether we are ready to start the negotiations," he said in a statement after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah II.
Earlier, Abbas met regional broker Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the proximity talks with Israel, a move which has been sanctioned by the Arab League.
On Tuesday, Abbas had expressed doubts about the prospect of re-engaging with Israel after a West Bank mosque went up in flames in an incident he blamed on Jewish settlers, and ultimately, the Israeli government.
Scepticism about a fresh round of talks was widespread, with former top Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Qorei on Wednesday telling the daily Al-Quds that the process would not last very long without firm US guarantees.
"The question to be asked is: will the negotiations which are expected to be resumed, yield any results or not?" asked Qorei, a senior PLO official who headed the previous round of talks before they collapsed 18 months ago when Israel began a bloody 22-day military campaign in Gaza.
"Will it be another (failed) experience or are the Americans offering real guarantees that solutions will be reached to all the core issues such as the borders, Jerusalem, the refugees and water resources?" the Palestinian former premier asked.
The private Israeli television channel 10 described Mitchell's tour of the Middle East as a "farce."
"It's most important for Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmud Abbas not to move forward, but to accuse each other over the future failure of the talks and especially not to appear as the culprit in the eyes of the US," it said.
Eitan Haber, a columnist and former adviser to late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote off any chance of success.
The talks "constitute a waste of money and mostly a waste of time," he wrote in an editorial on the website of Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot.
The Palestinians had agreed in March to take part in proximity talks but pulled out after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 homes in mainly Arab east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians eventually agreed to the talks after receiving US assurances the Jerusalem settlement expansion plan would be shelved.
Israel has imposed a partial and temporary freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, but it does not include occupied and annexed east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for a future state, with east Jerusalem as its capital.
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