George Mitchell: Envoy to the Middle East

Former speaker at SPU's Downtown Business Breakfast continues to foster peace

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Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, and speaker for Seattle Pacific University's annual Downtown Business Breakfast in 2000, was named the new envoy to the Middle East by President Barack Obama on January 22, 2009.

Since speaking before 900 business and community leaders at the SPU event, Mitchell has remained active in working toward peaceful solutions to conflicts. In 2001, his "Mitchell Report" — which was praised for its impartiality — called for a halt to Israeli settlements and greater Palestinian efforts to crack down on terror.

His current assignment is to help negotiate a lasting cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. They have been locked in a new conflict since Israel invaded Hamas-controled Gaza early this year in a bid to stop rocket attacks on Israel.

The son of an Irish father and Lebanese mother, Mitchell, a Catholic, has spent decades building peaceful solutions, including in Northern Ireland and during the Major League Baseball steriod investigation beginning in 2006. Response now invites you to meet George Mitchell again in the magazine's original article about his visit to SPU.