Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to a one-year time-frame for reaching a peace agreement, the special US envoy to the region, George Mitchell, said Thursday.

Mitchell said the two men agreed to the time-frame during private meetings at the State Department that marked the first face-to-face peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians in nearly two years.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton opened the talks that began with a meeting of the Israeli, Palestinian and US delegations that lasted for 90 minutes, Mitchell said.

Clinton then held a smaller discussion with only Abbas, Netanyahu and Mitchell, the special envoy said. Netanyahu and Abbas then held a private, one-on-one meeting as their aides began separate talks to prepare for the next round of negotiations Sep 14-15, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the exact location of the next round was still under discussion, but the venue would be in the Middle East. Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak offered to host the talks in an article he wrote for the New York Times.