Welcome Mitchell!

George Mitchell, the 75-year-old ex-American senator of Lebanese origins, was recently appointed as the new American delegate to the Middle East. And in his first tour to the region, he chose Cairo to be his first stop.

Actually, his choice by American President Barack Obama was widely welcomed and applauded, not only due to his being described as the bionic negotiator who engineered the peace process in Ireland that bore fruit by the brilliant success of approving the historical peace agreement in 1998, but also because Mitchell set out his task a few days after his appointment, as he believes that all disputes have solutions because they are man-made and man alone can put an end to them.

Then he has the ability and willingness to succeed in his new mission too after President Obama gave him all the necessary authorities to talk on his and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s behalf in his seven-day visit to the region.

However, our reservations are not about the American side, who we wish all the luck as its new administration gropes for change. They are actually about the Israeli one, whose various governments mastered evasion and procrastination policies. Evidently, the Israeli leaders set out to persuade Obama’s administration of their fallacies and pretexts, when the Israeli premier, Ehud Olmert, declares that Israel is not far from reaching comprehensive peace with the Palestinians after it restored its “deterrent power” in the military operation of Gaza. And in another statement the foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, claims that the “poured lead” operation on Gaza stands as a serious turning point to facilitate a scoring progress in the regional efforts that Israel helps Washington push forward. Yet, 73% of the Israelis in a poll posted by the website of Israel’s radio station, expect the tour of the veteran American mediator to be a failure!

In short, all hopes are that Obama, Clinton and Mitchell exert more efforts, actively and impartially, in handling the Middle East file, and that what the Israeli president circulated after his phone call with Clinton that the new American administration does not presently intend to bring Israel under any pressure whatsoever, is not true or at least the non-pressure policy shall not last too long!