U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend the second round of direct peace talks between Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas. The talks are scheduled to be held next Tuesday, September 14, at the Sinai resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

After the talks between the Israeli prime minister and PA chairman, Clinton will head to Jerusalem for further discussions the following day, a State Department official said. Clinton will be joined in the negotiations by U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki also announced that his country would host the conference, in a statement carried by Egypt's official news agency MENA.

Arab foreign ministers are expected to officially announce their endorsement of the direct talks at the Arab League's annual meeting, scheduled to take place in Cairo a week from today, on September 13.

Negotiations are expected to be held every two weeks, in the hope of achieving a peace deal within a year's time.

The talks are surrounded by much skepticism on both sides, after 17 years of failed peace contacts between Israel and the PA since the Oslo Accords were signed. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party, said Sunday that there is no chance for achieving peace with the Arabs in our generation.