Israel's two leading parties sent "a very strong signal" to revive peace talks with the Palestinians when they formed a coalition government, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

In an interview published Wednesday in USA Today newspaper, Clinton gave her first public reaction to the merger announced last week between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud and the center-right Kadima parties.

"I think that it was heartening to see, when Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the new coalition between Likud and Kadima, that one of the central goals of this new coalition was to further the Middle East peace process," she said.

"That was a very strong signal coming out of the negotiations between the two parties and leaders. I spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He seemed resolute about his commitment to proceeding with the Palestinians," she added.

She also said she has spoken with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas. "He is ready, he has said, to engage seriously," the chief US diplomat added.

"We continue to urge and nurture this process along because we believe it's in the best interests of Israel's security, which we care deeply about, and in furtherance of the Palestinian people's aspirations," she said.

"So any step taken to avoid any rupture but to, rather, promote greater trust, greater willingness to pursue engagement, we view as a positive step," Clinton told the newspaper.

In a letter to Abbas, Netanyahu wrote that Israel's new unity government could help move forward the stalled peace process, Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday.

But the Palestine Liberation Organization said Sunday that the letter from Netanyahu does not address key issues hindering talks, saying it contained no answers to the questions posed in a letter by Abbas last month.

In January, negotiators from both sides held five exploratory meetings in a bid to find a way to resume dialogue, but they ended inconclusively.

The last time both sides held direct negotiations was in September 2010, but they soon broke down over the issue of settlement construction.

The Palestinians say they will not hold negotiations while Israel builds on land they want for their future state, but Israel says it wants talks without preconditions, and accuses the Palestinians of holding up a return to talks.