U.S. special envoy George Mitchell will return to the Middle East next week, the State Department said Monday, after President Barack Obama pledged to work hard for Palestinian statehood. Mitchell's trip starts April 13, and he will meet with officials from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, the Gulf, and North Africa, spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. The former U.S. senator and mediator of Northern Ireland's peace accord seeks to “advance the goal of the two-state solution and compressive peace in the region,” Wood said. “Special envoy Mitchell's aim for this trip is to discuss next steps in moving the parties toward a lasting peace that will benefit all the people of the region.”
