US Vice President Joe Biden was to arrive in the Middle East on Monday with Israel and the Palestinians on the cusp of opening indirect peace talks after a break in negotiations of more than a year. Biden, the highest ranking US official to visit Israel and the West Bank since President Obama took office last year, was expected to throw his weight behind the US-brokered indirect talks. Palestinian officials announced on Sunday that they were ready to take part in the talks, despite deep scepticism about the prospects for success. Talks between the two sides have been on hold since Israel launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip in December 2008, despite US efforts to relaunch the peace process. Biden said it was crucial both sides enter negotiations with a positive attitude. 'We have got to ensure now that we will give the talks every chance of succeeding. The key is holding talks with goodwill, so that both sides come to the table with serious intentions,' he said in an interview with the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. 'If the talks develop, we believe that we'll be able to bridge the gaps and that the conflict will be ended,' he said in the interview published in Hebrew. Biden is to meet Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he is to hold talks with Tony Blair, special envoy for the Quartet of key diplomatic players, as well as Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Salam Fayyad. Israeli media reported that Biden's mission was also to convince Israel not to attack Iranian nuclear facilities and give US-led efforts to impose sanctions on Tehran a chance. Israel has called for crippling sanctions on Iran's energy sector to persuade it to halt its uranium enrichment programme, which Israel and the West suspect is aimed at developing a weapons capability. Iran has insisted the programme is purely for civilian purposes. Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, views Iran as its greatest threat after repeated predictions by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of the Jewish state's demise. Biden refused to comment on the possibility of military action against Iran, but expressed US commitment to stopping Tehran from acquiring the bomb. 'Iran obtaining nuclear arms will deeply undermine the stability of the entire international community and could lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that will be extremely dangerous for everyone involved, including for Iran,' Biden told Yediot Aharonot. 'For this reason, our administration is mobilising the international community to insist that Iran fulfil its international commitments. If it does not, it will have to deal with serious consequences and with increasing isolation,' he said. Biden, who is travelling with his wife Jill, will then travel on to the Jordanian capital Amman on Thursday for talks with King Abdullah II. A scheduled stop in Egypt was postponed because President Hosni Mubarak is out of the country recovering from surgery. US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has also held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in recent days on his latest visit to the region. 