Obama: We will aggressively seek lasting Middle East peace

President Barack Obama's newly minted Mideast envoy George Mitchell will arrive in Israel even before the Knesset elections on February 10, a senior government source said. According to Obama, it "will be the policy of my administration to actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians as well as Israel and its Arab neighbors," he said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and told her Israel would not open the Gaza crossings without progress toward the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

Over the past several weeks, particularly after Operation Cast Lead began, Obama and his staff reiterated their intention to become very involved in the Middle East, especially on the Palestinian issue.

The government source said Mitchell would come to Israel in the next two weeks, but that it was likely Clinton would come only after the Knesset election.

Before a raucous, cheering crowd of about 1,000 people at the State Department, Clinton, the 67th U.S. secretary of state, pledged to boost the morale and resources of the diplomatic corps and promised them a difficult but exciting road ahead.

"I believe with all of my heart that this is a new era for America," she said to loud applause in the main lobby of the department's headquarters, which Obama visited later in the day to underscore his administration's commitment to diplomacy.

With Obama at her side in the ornate Ben Franklin Room, Clinton introduced former Senate majority leader Mitchell as a special envoy for the Middle East. Former UN ambassador Richard Holbrooke was announced as a special adviser on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Holbrooke, 67, gained prominence by brokering the Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia.

Mitchell, 75, was the American envoy to peace talks in Northern Ireland. He also served as a Mideast envoy at the beginning of the intifada, when he wrote a report that became the basis for the road map, and created a parallel between the cessation of terror and the construction of settlements. Mitchell said yesterday that he saw during his work as an envoy in Northern Ireland that even a conflict that dates back hundreds of years can be resolved.

Obama said he would send Mitchell to the region "as soon as possible."

The outline for a "durable cease-fire" was clear, he added. "Hamas must end its rocket fire, Israel will complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza. The United States and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime so that Hamas cannot rearm," he said.

The president said the United States and its allies would support a regime that stopped arms smuggling and appreciated Egypt's efforts in this regard.

Obama added that the United States was concerned about the loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives in recent days, and that the hearts of Americans went out to Palestinians lacking water and other basic humanitarian needs.

In addition to the Holbrooke and Mitchell appointments, Dennis Ross, president Bill Clinton's special representative to the Middle East, was made responsible for dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue. Beth Jones, former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, was made assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who also spoke to Clinton yesterday, told the secretary of state that Israel wanted to move ahead the peace process and would invest a great deal of effort in giving humanitarian aid to Gaza's inhabitants. Olmert also said that Israel "would do everything in its power to fight terror and prevent arms smuggling to Gaza."

Clinton and Livni agreed yesterday that they would coordinate efforts on the Palestinian issue and especially with regard to the Iranian nuclear issue. Livni sad Hamas had been badly beaten by the Israel Defense Forces and that "Hamas must not receive any legitimacy from the international community."

Livni also told Clinton that Israel was involved in humanitarian aid by the international community, but wanted assistance and rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip to be carried out in a way that would not legitimize Hamas. Livni said Hamas is the enemy of peace in the region and threatens anyone who wants quiet in the Middle East.