ROME, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be in Rome for an official visit in the next few days, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Ugo Intini said on Wednesday.

    The government hopes to use the visit to promote a "more incisive" Italian involvement in Mideast affairs, with the goal of bringing Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table, Intini said.

    The deputy minister was addressing the Italian Lower House foreign affairs committee on the current crisis in the Mideast which has developed after the kidnapping of an Israeli army corporal by Palestinian militants.

    Through contacts with the two governments, Italy is working to persuade both sides to avoid "giving in to a spiral of violence," Intini said. Enditem