Mideast envoy

Al Jazeera:

Barack Obama, the US president, is set to name George Mitchell, former peace negotiator in Northern Ireland
as US special envoy for the Middle East, diplomatic sources have said.

He is best known for helping to broker Northern Ireland's historic Good Friday agreement in 1998 which ended decades of bloody conflict.

In 2000, he also presided over a committee investigating the ongoing violence of the Middle East conflict and recommended Palestinians do more to stop attacks on Israel and an end to Israeli settlement building on occupied land.

The White House is expected to announce the decision later on Wednesday or on Thursday, media reports said.

Aaron David Miller, a former US Middle East negotiator and analyst, told the Associated Press that Mitchell's appointment reflected "serious commitment by the new administration to addressing the Arab-Israeli crisis".

"He has real negotiating experience in Northern Ireland and the Middle East and he understands the requirements of both sides," he added.