Report: Ross made secret trip to Israel

JERUSALEM, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross visited Israel secretly last week to prepare for renewed talks with Israelis and Palestinians in Washington, officials in Israel said.

A report in The Jerusalem Post Tuesday said Ross's trip, the second in three weeks, opened the way for meetings U.S. administration officials are to hold in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, and an unnamed Palestinian official.

Ross's visit fueled speculation that he may replace George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, the newspaper said.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu's office issued a statement concerning Molcho's visit to the United States and referred to Ross as "the American envoy to the Middle East," the newspaper said. Later, Israeli officials said there was no indication that this was the case and called it an error in wording.

The newspaper said Ross, who worked as America's envoy to the Middle East in the 1990s when Netanyahu served his first stint as prime minister, wrote a number of unflattering passages about the Israeli leader in his book, "The Missing Peace." This did not prevent Ross from becoming a trusted White House conduit to Netanyahu, the newspaper said.