CAIRO: The new American envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell kick-started his first visit to the region with a trip to Egypt Tuesday and from which he will depart today.
The man who was instrumental in the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland comes with the expectation that he might be able to achieve a similar level of success in the Middle East.
Mitchell is not a complete stranger to the region, being a Maronite Christian with a Lebanese mother. It was his Mitchell Report upon which the Quartet “road map for peace, and the two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, was based.
Mitchell met with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana at the Cairo airport as well as Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa before holding talks with President Hosni Mubarak about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza.
He then met with Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and will meet again with Mubarak today before his departure.
In an interview with Al-Arabiya television network, US President Barack Obama vaunted his envoy, stating that there were few of Mitchell’s experience in international arbitration. Obama added that he had given a directive for his officials to “listen to all sides and not “dictate as had happened in the past.
“Mitchell’s success or failure will depend on the Israeli negotiating partner, said Diaa Rashwan from Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, “and with Benyamin Netanyahu looking likely to win the Israeli elections in February, the Arabs should not be in a hurry.
Rashwan added, “The conflict is very complicated, and past positions have been negative and did not form a platform for future talks. The position of American administrations through the years has been perceived as negative by everyone except Israel, so it will not be easy. However, Obama has given Mitchell a wider mandate than previous envoys and that is an important step towards a solution.
Mitchell leaves to Israel and the West Bank today after talks with Mubarak where he will hold talks with both Palestinian and Israeli officials. He will then head to Jordan on Saturday and Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
The envoy’s itinerary does not end there, as he will then head to France on Monday and the UK on Tuesday. He might also make a stop in Turkey before his return to the United States.
