U.S. Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell, 77, has resigned his post. Although the White House released the brief letter of resignation on Friday, it was actually dated April 6.
The move had been “a long time coming,” commented Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force for Palestine, who told reporters, “To be honest, he didn't have a lot to work with here.”
Former deputy Middle East Quartet envoy Robert Danin was more blunt in an analysis written for the Council of Foreign Relations.
The resignation, he said, “makes formal what was clear for some time – the president's goal of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by September is unattainable and negotiations are not about to resume any time soon.”
In his letter, Mitchell said he strongly supported Obama's “vision of comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has appointed Mitchell's deputy, David Hale, to take over as acting envoy when the resignation takes effect on May 20.
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Former Gov. Mike of Arkansas announced on his Fox News radio show Saturday night he will not seek the Republican party nomination for presidential candidate in 2012.
He left observers and even his closest aides in the dark until he said on air, “All the factors say go, but my heart says no. And that’s the decision that I have made.”
Huckabee is a Baptist preacher and a strong believer that all of Israel, including all of United Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, is the national home for Jews. He has said several times that there are more than a dozen “Palestinian “ states that the PA residents can call home. Earlier this year, he Israel for the 15th time.
He has led most polls for the GOP nomination, a fact he mentioned on his program. “The past few weeks, the external signs and signals and answers to many of the obstacles point strongly toward running,” he told listeners.
The former governor added, “Under the best of circumstances, being president is a job that takes one to the limit of his or her human capacity. For me to do it apart from an inner confidence that I was undertaking it with G-d’s full blessing is simply unthinkable.”
His departure from the campaign gives a boost to Tea Party favorite , who was the Republican party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2008 election. Another possible challenger is , former U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations. :Last week, Governor formally announced his intentions to run for for the nomination.
Both he and Palin are strong backers of Israel, but Bolton’s knowledge of foreign relations far surpasses that of Palin, and other presidential hopefuls. Bolton also has called for a on Iran to halt its unsupervised nuclear development program.
