Pessimism Around Mitchell Mission

Syrian media raised doubts that the current tour of the region by the United States Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, would lead to any progress in the peace process and accused the US administration of adopting partisan policies favouring Israel.



Mitchell left for the Middle East on September 12 to seek mainly a freeze on construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank in return for Arab steps towards the normalisation of relations with the Jewish state.



The latest visit by Mitchell to the region indicated that Washington was retreating as a real mediator for peace, said Omar Jaftali in an opinion article in the official newspaper Tishreen on September 14.



By listening to the Israelis again, the US would agree to new concessions unacceptable to Arab countries and the situation would be back to square one, he argued.



The columnist also criticised recent comments by US officials calling for the strengthening of strategic cooperation with Israel.



The official newspaper al-Thawra said in a September 13 editorial that Mitchell’s mission would be very difficult because Israel continued to refuse to implement the conditions for peace.



The daily’s editor-in-chief, Asaad Abboud, urged the US administration to convince Israel that security for the whole region was a precondition for guaranteeing the security of the Jewish state.



He added that no security could be achieved without peace.



The US contributed to the military superiority of Israel, which in turn made Israelis more obstinate and less keen on contracting peace, he said.