Middle East

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28 January 2009
Middle East Envoy Calls for Strengthened Gaza Cease-Fire

By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — A lasting Gaza cease-fire must be based on an end to arms smuggling to Hamas and a reopening of blockaded borders, says George Mitchell, U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace.

“It is of critical importance that the cease-fire be extended and consolidated, and we support Egypt's continuing efforts in that regard,” Mitchell said January 28 following a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Quartet special envoy Tony Blair at the presidential palace in Cairo.

“The United States is committed to vigorously pursuing lasting peace and stability in the region,” he said.

Mitchell, appointed January 22 by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is traveling to Israel, Egypt, the West Bank, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, with other stops planned, State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said.

“The administration will actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Israel and its neighbors,” he said.

Mitchell is working to consolidate gains after the Gaza cease-fire agreement, establish an effective anti-smuggling and interdiction regime to prevent Hamas from rearming, help reopen border crossings, and develop an effective response to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians in Gaza and the area’s reconstruction.

President Obama is sending a clear signal to Middle Eastern nations and the world that the United States is committed to tangible results, Mitchell said. “The United States is grateful to Egypt for its leadership in bringing about a cease-fire,” he said.

Israel and Hamas each agreed to a cease-fire in separate statements following a 22-day conflict in the Gaza Strip, a Mediterranean territory adjacent to Israel's southern border that is bounded by Egypt to the south. Israel and Egypt have kept their borders with Gaza closed since Hamas seized control of the territory by force in June 2007.

A significant portion of Mitchell’s trip is being spent listening to leaders in the region, and the envoy will report those findings to Obama and Clinton upon his return. According to State Department deputy spokesman Wood, Mitchell met with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in the afternoon in Jerusalem, following meetings with Egyptian officials in the morning.

Mitchell is expected to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank on January 29.

In recent days, Obama has made telephone calls to the leaders in Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and to the president of the Palestinian Authority, to confirm his commitment to active engagement in the pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. Mitchell said in Israel that the United States is firmly committed to a two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state living side by side.

Obama and Clinton wasted no time in naming Mitchell, a former U.S. senator and experienced negotiator, as special envoy for Middle East peace. Mitchell helped win a peace accord in Northern Ireland, and he led a commission that searched for ways to end the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The commission published a report in 2001 named for Mitchell.

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