The US said Tuesday that US envoy George Mitchell will not meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials before the Middle East quartet meets in Moscow on Thursday.

State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley sidestepped suggestions that Mitchell had delayed his trip until Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a formal Israeli response to US concerns about settlements.

He said he anticipated a conversation "very soon" between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Netanyahu, though one should not be expected necessarily on Tuesday.

Mitchell, who had been due to visit the region on Tuesday, "will not have meetings with the parties prior to Moscow," Crowley told reporters.

He cited the problem of "logistics" and the "tyranny of the schedule" which would deny Mitchell time for meaningful talks before the quartet –the US, Russia, the EU and the UN–meet in Moscow.

The quartet launched the road map for Middle East peace in 2003, which calls for a Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel. 

-AFP/NOW Lebanon