Clinton told both Netanyahu and Abbas that the United States will do its best to help promote the Middle East peace process, and it is up to the Israelis and Palestinians to reach a final agreement in one year.

(L to R) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas attend the launching ceremony of the direct negotiation between Palestine and Israel at the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C., the United States, Sept. 2, 2010. [Wang Chengyun/Xinhua]

Mitchell, who had led the four-month indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians, said the full trilateral delegations first met on the eighth floor of the State Department before they broke into a smaller meeting, which only involved Netanyahu, Abbas, Clinton and himself.

"President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu then went into a separate meeting for a direct discussion," he said. "That meeting is still going on right now."

The direct talks were also the first face-to-face meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu since the latter took office in April 2009, three months after the end of Israel's military operation in Gaza, which caused the direct talks to stop at the time.

Before Mitchell briefed the reporters here about the direct Middle East peace talks, State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said that the United States "successfully relaunched" the direct talks between Netanyahu and Abbas in order to realize the goal of a two-state solution.

Since he took office in early 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama has made Middle East peace process one of his top diplomatic priorities,as the administration believes solving the Israeli- Palestinian conflict concerns the national interests of the United States.