U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who earlier postponed his visit to the turbulent region amid a row between the U.S. and Israel over plans for new settlement construction in east Jerusalem, would travel to the Middle East on the weekend, the U.S. State Department has said.

Mitchell was to start his Middle East tour aimed at easing growing tensions in the region in Israel on Tuesday. However, the trip was postponed, which media reports described as a sign of straining relations between the U.S. and Israel.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement Mitchell would meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his trip, adding the decision on Mitchell's visit was taken during a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initiated by the Israeli side.

Israel's decision to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish families in the disputed territory in east Jerusalem, announced during U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden's visit to Israel, infuriated the U.S., as it has posed a threat to the resumption of U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian indirect peace talks.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the move as an "insult" that had "undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region."

Media reports said a row over Israel's new construction plans marked a new crisis in relations between the two states, described as "the worst in 35 years."

Clinton and U.S. President Barack Obama, however, rejected the allegations, saying that Israel was still one of the U.S.'s "closest allies" and that a "special bond" between the two nations was "not going to go away."

Israel, which is the main recipient of U.S. foreign aid reaching $2.4 billion annually, was fast to apologize for bad timing of its announcement, but has rejected the demand by the U.S. to scrap its new construction plans.

Israel's announcement drew cutting criticism from many other countries and international bodies, including the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, who comprise the Quartet of international mediators in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The Quartet will convene in Moscow on Friday.

WASHINGTON, March 19 (RIA Novosti)