The West Bank-based administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed today US President Barack Obama's choice of George Mitchell as his new Middle East envoy, according to DPA. Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said both Mitchell's appointment and the telephone calls that Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made to leaders in the region so soon after his inauguration showed the new US administration "is interested in (solving) the conflict in this region." Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Qureia also welcomed the appointment as a "positive step." "We will do everything we can to work with him," he said in a statement.
