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A Palestinian boy plays with a soccer ball in front of a destroyed house on the outskirts of Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip - Source: Reuters -
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Following through on a pledge to make Israeli-Palestinian peace
a priority, the Obama administration will send its Middle East
envoy back to the region this month to try to revive stalled
talks.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that envoy
George Mitchell, whose first trip came a week after Barack Obama
took over the presidency, would return to the Middle East before
the end of February.
Clinton, with Mitchell at her side, said the United States was
prepared to work with "all of the parties" to make progress toward
Palestinian statehood.
But she urged the militant group Hamas to meet oft-repeated
conditions. "They (Hamas) must renounce violence, they must
recognize Israel, they must agree to abide by prior agreements,"
she said.
Asked whether Clinton might have a new approach toward Hamas, State
Department spokesman Robert Wood indicated no policy shift.
"I don't think there was any ambiguity there on what she said,"
said Wood.
But Middle East expert Shibley Telhami said how to tackle Hamas was
a key issue for the new team. Hamas, which the Bush administration
isolated, rules Gaza while the West Bank is run by President
Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement.
"The real choice is between whether they continue just to support
President Abbas ... or whether they will actively pursue a policy
that encourages Arab partners to bring about reconciliation between
Hamas and Fatah," said Telhami, a professor at the University of
Maryland.
Promises
In his presidential campaign Obama promised to focus on the Middle
East right away. His predecessor, George Bush, who was engaged in
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, waited until his last year in office
to make a major effort in the area.
Clinton, whose husband President Bill Clinton worked until nearly
his last day in office to get an elusive deal, promised a sustained
effort from the new administration.
"This is the first of what will be an ongoing high level of
engagement by Senator Mitchell on behalf of myself and the
president," she said.
"The United States is committed to this path, and we are going to
work as hard as we can over what period of time is required to try
to help the parties make progress together," she added.
Mitchell, who helped broker peace in Northern Ireland, returned on
Monday from talks with Israelis and Palestinians in a bid to shore
up a ceasefire in Gaza following Israel's three-week offensive
launched in December.
Mitchell said the situation was "obviously complex and difficult"
but he was convinced that with patient diplomacy the United States
could help achieve a long-term peace.
"There are no easy or risk-free courses of action," he told
reporters. "I plan to establish a regular and sustained presence in
the region."
Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice traveled nearly
monthly to Israel and the West Bank in her final year in office in
a bid to get the two sides closer to reaching a deal.
Mitchell said leaders in the region were anxious for Clinton to go
at an "appropriate time."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband met both Clinton and
Mitchell at the State Department and said they had discussed, among
other issues, how to ensure humanitarian aid could get through to
Palestinians and international efforts to stop arms smuggling into
Gaza.
"(We also looked at) keeping alive the critically important
long-term vision of two states, Israel and Palestine living side by
side in security, which is so essential to regional stability," he
added.
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