( Almanar Tv) Washington believes it is too early to talk about imposing sanctions on Israel to force it to freeze settlement building in occupied east Jerusalem, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Tuesday. “It’s premature to talk about that,” Wood said when asked about the possibility of US financial sanctions.

“What we are trying to do, as I said right now, is to create an environment which makes it conducive for talks to go forward,” he added. “And you know, as I said, Senator Mitchell is working very hard on this.”

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell was due to leave Washington later Tuesday, another State Department official said, asking to remain anonymous. No precise itinerary was given, but the official said Mitchell would meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders, but would probably not travel to Syria.

Israel came under intense diplomatic heat Tuesday over its settlement activity in occupied east Jerusalem, with the European Union and Russia warning it not to violate a so-called Middle East peace plan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy also repeated “the need for a complete freeze” of settlement activity after talks with Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Israel’s deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said the Jewish state was “working and will continue to work in accordance with its vital national interests, especially with respect to Jerusalem.”

But Wood responded: “Well, certainly no one is asking Israel to act outside its national security interests. “What we’re asking both parties to do is to fulfill their Road Map obligations. Both sides have committed to do that.”

SURGE IN US VISITORS
Senior White House adviser Dennis Ross will join an already crowded list of top US officials travelling to the occupied Palestinian territories next week, a step interpreted positively in Israel as an attempt by the Obama administration to engage more constructively with Tel Aviv.

Diplomatic officials confirmed that Ross, who last month was named special assistant to the president for the Central Region will pay his first visit to Israel next week in his new role.

Ross will come in the same week as Mitchell, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Adviser James Jones, who will be coming with some 10 members of his staff.

Asked about the sudden surge in high-level US visitors, one senior Israeli diplomatic official said, “It’s about time. It’s much better that the two countries discuss the issues between them face-to-face, and not through the media.”

These high-level visits, another senior Israeli official said, underscore the importance Washington continues to attribute to its relations with Tel Aviv. The official said these visits were not tied to the recent spat over plans to build 20 apartments in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied east Jerusalem, although this issue was sure to be raised.