US special envoy George Mitchell said on Saturday that the new administration of President Barack Obama would exert "great energy" in pursuit of a two-state Middle East peace settlement. "It has been the policy of the United States for many years that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in a two-state solution," he told reporters after meeting Eghyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.
This is "the policy of President Obama and one that we will pursue with great energy," he said, adding that an end to the conflict was "also in the national interest of the United States."
"We recognise the complexity and difficulties ... We are aware of a lot of history of expectations being raised and then not being met," the former US senator said, according to AFP. "We will proceed as rationally as possible with a full commitment to our objective: to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East."
According to the US embassy in Riyadh, Mitchell is due in Riyadh early Sunday to meet with Saudi King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal for talks on the peace efforts.
