George Mitchell, President Obama's Middle East envoy, has been charged with the task of achieiving concrete progress, not merely photo opportunities. His itinerary starts with Egypt next Tuesday. He will then go on to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. "Obama reiterated the U.S. commitment to Israel as an ally, and to its right to defend itself. But he suggested that Israel has hard choices to make and that his administration would press harder for it to do so."
