NEW YORK - Envoys of the "Quartet" of Middle East mediators "continue to work constructively" and will meet again on Thursday evening or Friday morning, a senior US official said.

The envoys from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, are trying to craft a statement that would enable stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to resume.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to hand UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday an application for UN membership, a move strongly opposed by Israel and the United States.