Clearly President Obama and Madame Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be in the drivers' seat in the Middle East peace process, but former Senator George Mitchell -- who made the world safe for Disney's combattive shareholders and the negotiated the Irish Peace Process -- who was just named as "Special Envoy" will help. Next to the economic crisis, the Middle East -- as well as the events unfolding along the Pakistan-Afghani border -- the situastion in the Middle East appears to be taking a large potion of President Obama's mindspace. From CNN:
"In 2000, Mitchell served on a commission that examined the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
"In 2001, he wrote a report that that called for a halt to Israeli settlements and greater Palestinian efforts to crack down on terror. The 'Mitchell Report' was praised for its impartiality and became the basis of a so-called road map for later peace initiatives.
"Mitchell is expected to help negotiate a sustainable cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Israel invaded Hamas-controlled Gaza earlier this month in what they called an operation to stop rockets from being fired into Israeli territory."
How much will the lessons of Northern Ireland play in Mitchell's work in the Middle East. The fact that the neoconservative wing of American foreign policy doesn't like the appointment speaks well for the former Maine Senator.
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