CAIRO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said on Wednesday he would call for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to prepare for a Middle East peace conference in the United States expected by the end of the year.

Hesham Youssef, Moussa's chief of staff, told Reuters the meeting would either be limited to foreign ministers on the League's working group on peace, or else would bring together the entire council of foreign ministers.

State news agency MENA quoted Moussa as saying he had notified Arab ambassadors to the League.

The timing of the meeting was yet to be decided as well, Youssef added.

On Tuesday, Egypt said talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had restored its confidence in the Bush administration's plans for the conference.

Moussa had warned that Israel's continued building of settlements in the occupied West Bank would have decisively negative impacts on chances for peace, according to MENA.

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