UN leader presses Middle East rivals to get back to talks

Jordan: UN leader Ban Ki-moon starts a Middle East peace mission on Tuesday seeking to add to international pressure on the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to return to direct negotiations.

The UN secretary general will hold talks in Amman with King Abdullah II and Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, officials said.

On Wednesday, he will hold key meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah, officials said.

Direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have been frozen since September 2010. The two sides have had contacts in Amman this month but no breakthrough has been reported.

"My visit comes at an important moment," Ban told a press conference in New York last week when he announced the trip. AFP