Martin Indyk Resigns as U.S. Special Mideast Envoy

U.S. special Mideast envoy Martin Indyk has resigned on Friday, some two months after the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

• Indyk: Loathing Between Abbas, Netanyahu Foiled Talks

A senior Israeli official who was notified on Indyk's resignation said that Indyk will return to his previous job at The Brookings Institution think tank next month.

Indyk will continue to serve as an external adviser to the Obama administration on the peace process and will return to his post as special envoy if talks resume, the official said.

Indyk is a former U.S. ambassador to Israel. He was appointed to the envoy post last July when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced peace talks would resume with the goal of reaching a settlement within nine months.

In recent months Indyk was considering his future option in light of the collapse of talks. At first he considered remaining at his post, but over the past several weeks the Brookings Institute made it clear he would not be able to hold both jobs, and that if he decides to carry on as envoy there would be no other option but to appoint someone else as vice president of the institute.

In early May, Haaretz reported that Indyk was considering resigning following the blowup of talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The White House and Secretary of State John Kerry asked him to wait and see how events unfold in the region, but after the establishment of the Palestinian unity government it became clear that peace talks will not be resuming anytime soon, and Indyk decided to resign. An official U.S. administration statement on the matter is expected during the day.