The Obama administration seems to be doing everything in its power to keep the staggering Mideast peace process alive. 

The U.S.-mediated direct talks, which were launched only four weeks ago, have come to a grinding halt after Prime Minister Netanyahu defied tremendous U.S. pressure to extend a West Bank construction moratorium, which ended September 26. The Palestinians, who want that land for a future state, have consistently warned they would walk out on the talks if construction was resumed.

Despite his openly expressed disappointment with Netanyahu’s decision – President Obama is not going to easily give up on his ambitious diplomatic endeavor.

In what seems to be another “last effort” to save the day, he has urgently dispatched Special Envoy George Mitchell to the region on Tuesday, to hold last minute talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in order to find a solution.

Mitchell has met with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday and with Palestinian President Abbas today, but so far no breakthrough has been achieved. Mitchell is expected to meet separately with both leaders again tomorrow.

Meanwhile, The Arab League, that is expected to have the last say on whether the Palestinians will ultimately quit the talks, has decided to postpone its meeting from Monday to Wednesday in order to give the US administration a few more days to try and come up with a solution that would enable to give the peace process another chance.