Washington (CNN) -- Fresh off a major speech on Iraq, President Obama on Wednesday turns his attention to the extremely difficult task of trying to broker Mideast peace, with his special envoy declaring there is a "window of opportunity" for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to achieve an historic deal within one year.
Former Sen. George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy for Middle East Peace, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are paying close attention to polls in the Mideast which show fear there will be many more years of intense conflict if negotiations over a two-state solution collapse.
"Now, I believe that it is an awareness of these and other realities by the two leaders and their leadership that there is a window of opportunity," said Mitchell. "A moment in time within which there remains the possibility of achieving the two-state solution, which is so essential to comprehensive peace in the region, that -- difficult as it may be for both leaders, and we recognize that difficulty for both of them -- the alternatives for them and the members of their societies pose far greater difficulties and far greater problems in the future".
Several top officials close to the negotiations said it is hard to be optimistic about a peace deal right now, but hope springs eternal because at least the Israelis and Palestinians are meeting again after a year and a half of stalled talks. And Obama is getting more personally invested in the process this week because achieving a deal is one of his administration's top foreign policy goals.
The officials close to the negotiations say that nobody directly involved in the talks is expecting an actual peace treaty to be brokered this week, over the course of two days of negotiations between Netanyahu and Abbas. They are joined by other key players from the region coming to Washington to move the talks along, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan.
CNN
