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Can George Mitchell Fix the Middle East?
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Mario Tama, AFP / Getty Images
A decade ago, George Mitchell helped Bill Clinton broker peace in Northern Ireland. Can he do the same for Obama in the Middle East?
Obama's decision to tap former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to be special envoy to the Middle East is being touted by some as a bold choice that signals his willingness to play a direct role in bringing an end to the cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
But others see the appointment to what must be the least-envied job in Washington as mere window dressing.
“It’s a way of making it appear that Obama is dealing with the Middle East,” said a source close to the decision who wished to remain anonymous, “when in fact his focus will be almost completely on the economy.”
Mitchell's 2001 report on the conflict remains to this day the most comprehensive outline for getting to a two-state solution.
Mitchell's appointment will be announced as soon as the Senate confirms Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, according to people familiar with the matter.
There is no question that Mitchell, a 75-year-old Arab-American who retired from the Senate in 1994, is well-versed in the decades-old conflict. In 2000, President Bill Clinton asked Mitchell to compile a report on what would come to be known as the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada. The event was sparked by the visit of Ariel Sharon, at the time locked in a bruising contest with Benjamin Netanyahu for control of the Likud party, to the Temple Mount (the site of the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam’s holiest shrines) accompanied by 1,000 heavily armed Israeli soldiers dressed in riot gear. It was a deliberately provocative and baldly political gesture. It helped Sharon defeat Netanyahu and become prime minister, but it also launched a wave of violence across the country and put an end (once again) to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Mitchell Report pinned much of the blame for the outbreak of violence on Ariel Sharon, calling his visit to the Temple Mount a “poorly timed” and “provocative” action whose effects “should have been foreseen; indeed it was foreseen by those who urged that the visit be prohibited.” But the report did not stop there. In a surprisingly frank and even-handed report that drew praise from all sides in the conflict, Mitchell outlined a comprehensive plan for an end to hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians. He demanded an immediate freezing of all Israeli settlement activity in the Occupied Territories, a lifting of all restrictions on the movement of people and goods in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the transfer by Israel of all tax revenue owed to the Palestinians. At the same time, the report called for the Palestinian Authority to take greater responsibility in preventing terrorist actions by militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and it specifically demanded an end to the firing of rockets into Israel.
The report concluded somewhat presciently that while “both sides have made clear a profound disillusionment with the behavior of the other,” unless both the Israelis and Palestinians were willing to return to the negotiating table, they faced “the prospect of fighting it out for years on end, with many of their citizens leaving for distant shores to live their lives and raise their children.”
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jaguarxjs
'Can George Mitchell Fix the Middle East?' Hahahahahaha!
Really, no.
Rock451
Generally good article. However, it is the political aspirations of the Palestinian people that need to be respected, not those of Hamas. Hamas has no interest in a two-state solution - it wants to destroy Israel. If progress can be made towards a two-state solution and Al Fatah can curb its tendency towards corruption, then Hamas will become largely irrelevant.
Kerano32
No one can fix the middle east until the whole government here in the US decides to rethink their unconditional support for Israel. So not even Obama can REALLY fix the Middle east, much less george mitchell
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Pupster
Brilliant pick. Months ago I was pulling for Mitchell to be on the VP short list, but this is about as good. He's no nonsense, no BS, tough and pragmatic. And he knows the politics of the situation as well. Can he fix the Middle East? Hell, no. But he may get closer than a lot of other envoys. And he'll take it to Israel, which is frankly, exactly what they need.
credibility-gap
So, Reza, Hamas can become gradually irrelevant "only if its political aspirations are taken seriously?" It's primary political aspiration is the destruction of Israel and expulsion or murder of its post-1948 Jews. Somehow, I don't see how taking those aspirations seriously brings us closer to a solution.
tomfarr
Mitchell's report made sense, but of course that doesn't mean either side would accept it.
Obama is handling this properly - appointing a qualified man to deal with this problem area, despite the very low chances of success, without tying up his Secretary of State on the hopeless Middle East, or wasting his own time when he has so many solvable problems to deal with.
connie47
I have serious doubts about what anybody can do to fix the Middle East, but George Mitchell is as good as they get. If anyone can move anybody even an inch, he can. God bless his efforts.
cajola
Well, sitting down and talking to both sides seems like a good idea to me and I'm sure that is what he will do. Both sides need to know that peace can't come about by killing innocent people, nothing can be as important than your own people living in peace and getting along with your neighbors...what can be so difficult?
There is so much tension in that region and those are easy words to say I know, but there has to be a start somewhere and it may take baby steps but anything is achievable if they want real peace.
tampsa
To jump start the MidEast peace process we should START by recognizing the State of Palestine. The "final settlement" (boundaries, Jerusalem, etc.) would then be much easier to achieve because there would be a legal authority to negotiate with
troutcor
If he is going to just pick up where he left off, try to dust off his old plan, he will fail. But that plan was at the time a step forward, so maybe Mitchell can again instigate a major advance: to propose a single-state solution. We know these two sides are fighting over the same piece of land, and we know that barring genocide neither will never get sole possession. Not in peace, anyway. Thus, the only way forward is to abandon an ethnic or religious chauvinist state for either side and try to create a single democracy. This is the only solution that can be supported by moderate elements on both sides. The current stalemate, and endless bickering about the exact shape of a two-state deal, benefits only radicals on both sides.
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