I could not sign off for today without noting how encouraged I am that Senator George Mitchell is about to be appointed Middle East Envoy (with a focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). My friend Amjad Atallah wrote about the appointment at TWN:

Reuters was reporting that Senator George Mitchell was being strongly considered to become the next Middle East Envoy – a man of considerable gravitas who negotiated an end to the more intractable Irish-British dispute (a conflict with significant similarities with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict).

I met Senator Mitchell when he led the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact Finding Committee appointed by former President Bill Clinton. He completed his work in the first five months of President Bush’s presidency – and it was the closest President Bush ever got to addressing the underlying fundamentals of the conflict.

I like this move and I also hope that the new Administration finds a way to use Sen. Hagel in its foreign policy. I would have liked to see him drafted to focus on US-Iran issues but I think that slot will be filled by Dennis Ross. Nevertheless, Hagel is an asset and should be used by the Obama Administration – perhaps that is a decision for day 2 or 3…

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