They are reporting that George Mitchell may be named as a middle east envoy:
George Mitchell, the former Senate Democratic Majority Leader, is under serious consideration as the Middle East envoy for the Obama administration, Obama officials confirmed on Monday.
Mitchell is highly regarded as a negotiator for his work in the successful Northern Ireland peace process, and his selection would put a clear stamp on the Middle East as a top priority. In keeping with the tradition of presidential transitions, President-elect Barack Obama has said very little about the ongoing violence in Gaza in recent weeks, but is preparing to assume responsibility for foreign policy at noon on Tuesday.
This is a really bad idea right now. Not the choice of Mitchel per-se but the timing. Politically I can see why it would be done but Hamas will wrap him around their finger at this time. It will give them cover if they choose to launch rockets again since his main job will be to restrain Israel.
If it was given a month before this took place that would be a different story. Right now I think not.
Oh and BTW Israel actually had a 24 hour period without rockets. The Muqata stopped liveblogging Israellycool didn’t figuring that the ceasefire won’t hold we will see who is right.
Update: The Muqata has decided to start liveblogging again that might be a bad sign. They have this message for the new president:
Today is Barack Obama’s Presidential inauguration. Good Luck America. We hope that the Obama administration doesn’t start turning thumbscrews on Israel to negotiate with Palestinian terror organizations like Hamas and Fatah.
This might be a forlorn hope.
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