The new US Middle East peace envoy leaves tonight on a trip to Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to try to shore up the Gaza ceasefire to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace, the US state department said.
George Mitchell, a former US senator and a mediator who helped to resolve the Northern Ireland conflict, was named by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week to lead US efforts to end the six-decade Arab-Israeli conflict.
State department spokesman Robert Wood said Mr Mitchell's trip, which will run through February 3rd, aimed to consolidate the ceasefire that ended Israel's 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip and to "reinvigorate the peace process."
Critics faulted the Bush administration for what they viewed as its relative neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until its last year, when a US-backed effort to strike an agreement by the end of 2008 failed.
US President Barack Obama has made an effort to show that he is engaged on the issue from the start, telephoning Arab and Israeli leaders on his first full day in office on Wednesday and attending the announcement of Mr Mitchell's appointment at the State Department a day later.
"The administration will actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Israel and its neighbors," Mr Wood told reporters.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Mr Obama planned to see both Ms Clinton and Mr Mitchell before the envoy left on his trip, which began "the process that the president promised to be actively engaged" in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking to world Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, said he looked forward to meeting Mr Mitchell to discuss ways to move forward Palestinian statehood talks.
"I know that when he (Obama) sends his emissary to the state of Israel this is not in order to argue with us but to ... find a way that will help both sides, together with the Palestinians, to come to terms that will allow us to ultimately agree on a comprehensive settlement," Mr Olmert said.
Mr Wood said it was possible Mitchell's schedule might change but, when asked if he might go to Syria, said, "I don't believe that's planned at all." He also ruled out Mr Mitchell having any contact with Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza and that the United States regards as a terrorist organization.
While on his trip, Mr Mitchell will seek to consolidate the Gaza ceasefire and to establish an anti-smuggling system to prevent Hamas from rearming, Mr Wood said.
Israel launched its offensive in the Gaza Strip in late December with the declared aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks on its southern communities.
About 1,300 Palestinians, at least 700 of them civilians, were killed during the offensive, while Israel put its death toll at 10 soldiers and three civilians.
Mr Mitchell will also seek to address the humanitarian needs of the 1.5 million Palestinians who live in Gaza and to speed the reopening of border crossings into the area, which Hamas seized control from the Palestinian Fatah faction in June 2007.
A US official said Mitchell will leave for Cairo today and then head to Israel for meetings there and in the West Bank on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday he will visit Jordan before flying to Riyadh, where he will have talks on Sunday.
He then travels to Paris and London before returning to Washington on February 3rd to brief Ms Clinton and Mr Obama. The official said Mr Mitchell hoped to visit Turkey, which has hosted indirect Israeli-Syrian peace talks, but this was not yet confirmed.
In 2000-2001, Mr Mitchell led a five-member commission to study the Israeli-Palestinian issue that recommended ways to end the violence.
Reuters