国际英语新闻：U.S. cancels envoy visit to Middle East

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. said Tuesday that its envoy George Mitchell will not visit the Middle East for talks before the Quartet meeting in Moscow this week.

"He will not have meeting with the parties prior to Moscow," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, citing logistics and scheduling reasons.

George Mitchell, the U.S. special envoy to Middle East, was originally scheduled to visit the region on Tuesday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

He will accompany Secretary Hillary Clinton to Moscow for the Quartet meeting on Middle East peace process, which will be held from Thursday to Friday.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Quartet Representative Tony Blair will join Clinton to discuss efforts to promote Middle East peace.

Relationship between Israel and the U.S., its most important ally, have gone tense after Israel announced its plan to build 1, 600 new housing units at a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem, the Arab-dominated section of the holy city the Palestinians claim to be the capital of their future state.

The announcement coincided with Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, overshadowing his effort on Middle East peace. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other U.S. senior officials referred to the incident as an "insult."

Within days, the Israeli-U.S. ties have gone from "unbreakable," according to Biden, to "perilous," as described by an unnamed senior U.S. official. Some media comments described that the U.S.- Israeli relationship has hit "a 35-year low."