JERUSALEM — George J. Mitchell, the new U.S. envoy to the Middle East, arrived in Israel on Wednesday to begin testing his axiom that there's no such thing as a conflict that cannot be ended.
Yet even as Israeli and Palestinian leaders offered ideas on how the Obama administration can help bring about peace, the prevailing mood on both sides was that their decades-old fight had become almost hopelessly deadlocked.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, January 30, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Mitchell in Israel: A caption in Thursday's Section A with an article about Mideast envoy George J. Mitchell's arrival in Israel misidentified the man pictured with him as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. It was Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Two obstacles were evident as Mitchell met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli leaders. Hours before his arrival, Israeli warplanes pounded weapons-smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip, striking back for a bombing Tuesday that killed an Israeli soldier in the first deadly breach of a tentative cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hamas. Israel conducted another air raid early today, bombing what it called a weapons factory after militants fired a rocket into Israel.
And a survey released by the Israeli advocacy group Peace Now detailed a major expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank over the last year, a trend that moderate Palestinian leaders called an impediment to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Militant attacks on Israel and settlement growth on land claimed by Palestinians have stymied peace efforts for years. An American "road map" calling for their mutual cessation, a formula promoted by Mitchell during an earlier foray into Middle East diplomacy, has been the accepted starting point for statehood talks since 2003.
Mitchell's new mission is viewed as a more vigorous effort to enforce that trade-off. After lunch with Olmert, the envoy said the United States would "sustain an active commitment for reaching the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security."
His initial focus is Hamas-ruled Gaza, where years of rocket fire into Israel led to a blockade by Israel and Egypt, followed by a 22-day Israeli assault that killed nearly 1,300 Palestinians.
Shoring up last week's cease-fire is of "critical importance," Mitchell said, adding that a longer-term truce should be based on an end to arms smuggling and the lifting of the blockade.
At the same time, he said, "the United States is committed to Israel's security and to its right to defend itself against legitimate threats."
Mitchell said that after his consultations in the Middle East and Europe, he will report to Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on his conclusions about the next steps.
