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U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy said Friday that the new administration's push for ‘Israeli-Palestinian peace’ after the war in the Gaza Strip faced big hurdles and he warned of setbacks ahead.
The somber assessment by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell followed two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on shoring up a shaky ceasefire following Israel's 22-day war against Gaza.
In the talks, Israel has balked at fully reopening Gaza's border crossings to allow reconstruction.
Mitchell said consolidating the truce and "immediately" addressing the humanitarian needs of Gaza's 1.5 million residents were the U.S. administration's top priorities.
"Then we must move forward," he added, citing Obama's commitment to "aggressively" seek a peace deal.
U.S.-backed talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled last year in discord over illegal Jewish settlement expansion and the future of Jerusalem. Diplomats said reviving them after the war in Gaza would be very difficult and would take time.
In keeping with long-standing U.S. policy, Mitchell did not meet during his visit with Hamas, which won a 2006 Palestinian election but has been shunned as a "terrorist" group by Western powers for refusing to recognize Israel.
"The tragic violence in Gaza and in southern Israel offers a sobering reminder of the very serious and difficult challenges and, unfortunately, the setbacks that will come," Mitchell told reporters after touring a U.N. warehouse in East Jerusalem packed with aid for Gaza's residents.
But he added: "The United States remains committed to actively and aggressively seeking a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as between Israel and its other Arab neighbors."
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