Obama: Mitchell in region to 'listen'

Just eight days after the inauguration of US President Barack Obama, his Middle East envoy George Mitchell will arrive Wednesday on what Obama defined as a "listening" mission."I think the most important thing is for the United States to get engaged right away," Obama said Monday in an Al-Arabiya TV interview, adding that "what I told him is, start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating-in the past on some of these issues - and we don't always know all the factors that are involved.So let's listen.He's going to be speaking to all the major parties involved. And he will then report back to me.From there we will formulate a specific response."In another sign that the Obama administration is tackling the Middle East situation head on, the US is planning to take part in an international conference in Copenhagen next week that will bring together intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials from Europe, the US and Israel to discuss ways to choke off the arms supply to the Gaza Strip.Two top Foreign Ministry officials, Yossi Gal and Rafi Barak, were dispatched by Foreign Ministry Director-General Aaron Abramovich to European capitals earlier this week to prepare for the conference.The conference follows a memorandum of understanding signed between Israel and the US to fight arms smuggling, as well as offers by a number of European countries to provide naval assistance to interdict the arms at sea, and to provide technical and logistical help to the Egyptians to stop smuggling under the Egyptian-Gaza border.One senior diplomatic official said that Israel welcomed the conference, and that anything that could be done to halt the arms supply to Hamas should be welcomed.Mitchell is scheduled to arrive in the early afternoon from Egypt, where he is scheduled to hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He will meet separately with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.Thursday morning he is scheduled to meet with Israel's top security officials, and then go to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.On Friday morning he is expected to meet Likud head Binyamin Netanyahu before leaving for Amman. Since Mitchell will be meeting each of the three major candidates in the upcoming election, he is not expected to hear just one Israeli approach to the diplomatic process, but to hear the position of each candidate.There is, however, expected to be agreement between the three on the regional threats: Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas.Mitchell's itinerary after Jordan has not yet been confirmed, but there are reports that he will be going to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, stops that would underscore Obama's message that his goal is to address the regional problem and not "only" the Israeli-Palestinian dimension. He is also expected to stop in Paris and London on the way home....
By HERB KEINON
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As in the days of Noah....