Mitchell: U.S. wants to achieve comprehensive peace in the region
U.S. Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell asserted on Monday that the U.S. administration is looking forward to achieving a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Arabs in the region.Mitchell told reporters in a joint news conference with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat following a two-hour meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he had finished "a constructive and wide-ranged meeting with President Abbas." "I reiterated that it's American policy to do whatever we can to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, between Israel and the Palestinians, between Syrians and Israel, and between Israel and Lebanon," said Mitchell. He added that President Barack Obama's administration "is looking for normalization of relations between Israel and all of the countries in the region, in order to achieve that objective." Mitchell held talks with Erekat, Premier Salam Fayyad in Ramallah, where he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. He had also met with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his Mideast trip. "The president (Obama) has asked all parties involved to take steps to make possible an early return of meaningful negotiation and a prompt resolution of those negotiations to achieve the comprehensive peace which we all desire," he said. Abbas has insisted that peace negotiations with Israel and even normalization with Arabs can only begin when Israel recognizes the U.S.-backed two-state solution vision and freezes settlement, including the natural growth. "That means everyone must take steps, some of them difficult, some of them controversial, to create the context, within which such discussions can occur," Mitchell said. He added that his message to all leaders whom he met and will meet "is the same: we want to help you to bring peace to this region, so the people of all the countries in the region can enjoy the benefits of peace, security, opportunity and prosperity." Mitchell revealed that he looked forward to returning again.