US Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Sunday shared "new ideas" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on renewing peace talks with the Palestinians, the premier said.

"I heard a few interesting ideas in order to renew the peace process," Netanyahu said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting after holding talks with Mitchell for a second time on the envoy's latest regional tour.

"I expressed my hope that these new ideas will lead to the renewal of the peace process if the Palestinians themselves show similar interest," he added, without providing any further details.

Mitchell was also due to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for a second time later in the day in Amman, after having held inconclusive meetings with both leaders last week.

The United States has been trying for months to convince both sides to return to the negotiating table, but the Palestinians have refused to do so unless Israel halts all settlement growth in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories it occupied in 1967.

Washington initially backed that demand but has more recently pressed both sides to immediately return to the talks and praised a limited 10-month settlement slowdown enacted by Netanyahu in November.

The Palestinians have rejected the moratorium on building starts because it excludes mostly Arab east Jerusalem ? which they demand as their capital ? as well as public buildings and projects already under way.

Israel has meanwhile insisted it will not give any more ground and blamed the Palestinians for the impasse.

Israel's Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom on Sunday said it was "time to say clearly and unequivocally that there will be no further concessions from Israel for the launching of negotiations."

"The method of the Palestinians is to refuse to resume negotiations to force the United States to exert pressure on Israel," he told public radio.

"The ball is in the Palestinian court."