The U.S. special Mideast envoy made a last-ditch push Tuesday to persuade Israel to curtail West Bank settlement construction but said he made no breakthroughs after meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

George Mitchell met in Jerusalem first with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and later in the day with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to persuade them attend a meeting as a prelude to peacemaking.

After an evening meeting with Abbas, Mitchell said the U.S. is committed to the resumption of peace talks, and that he hoped "to bring this phase of the effort to a positive conclusion in the coming weeks."

Earlier, Mitchell had a two-hour meeting with Netanyahu but was unable to secure a commitment to stop settlement construction. However, the two men agreed to hold an unscheduled second session on Wednesday morning.

Tuesday's meetings come a day after the Israeli leader rejected U.S. calls for a settlement freeze. Plans to build nearly 3,000 new apartments in the West Bank will remain on course and there will be no restrictions on expanding Jewish neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem, Netanyahu said.

Palestinians claim both areas for a future state that would also include the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Abbas has repeatedly said he would not resume official talks with Israel unless settlement construction comes to a total halt.

However, he might agree to an informal sitdown with Netanyahu next week on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New York, his aides said.

The outcome of the meetings are seen as key to U.S. President Barack Obama's credibility in the Arab world and as a Mideast peace broker.

In Tel Aviv, Israeli and Palestinian activists released the most detailed vision yet of what a peace deal between the two sides could look like, though it has no official standing,

At its core is a Palestinian state in nearly 98 per cent of the West Bank, all of the Gaza Strip and Arab areas of Jerusalem.

The plan was put together by the Geneva Initiative, a group of Israeli and Palestinian experts, ex-government officials and former negotiators.

With files from The Associated Press