BUCHAREST, (AFP) – Arab states believe US efforts to save direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks should be given more time to succeed, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said here Monday.

“Arab countries and members of the peace Follow-up Committee (of the Arab League) feel that they have not to close the door and to allow the American effort a further opportunity or possibility,” Gheit said during a visit to Bucharest.

“But the moment of truth will be reached soon and the Arab peace committee will have to convene in order to look into the situation and then they will decide which of the available options to pursue,” said Gheit, who gave no date for the meeting.

The Egyptian minister was speaking at a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart Teodor Baconschi.

Gheit is on a regional tour which also includes Ukraine, Hungary and Bulgaria.

In early October, Arab League ministers gave the United States one month to save direct Middle East peace talks which they warned would collapse unless Israel halts settlement building in the occupied West Bank.