Brussels, 21/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - High Representative for CFSP Javier Solana is this week taking part in a visit to the Middle East by the "Mitchell Committee". The Mitchell Fact-Finding Committee was set up last October at the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit to elucidate the causes of the escalation in violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The Committee, according to a press release, "has and will continue to seek information and advice from a range of individuals and institutions", and its mandate is to provide an "independent and objective assessment of the recent events" involving violence with a view to preventing their recurrence. In addition to US Senator George Mitchell (who played a major role in the pacification of Northern Ireland) and Javier Solana, its members are the former president of the Turkish Republic, Suleyman Demirel, Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjorn Jagland and former US Senator Warren Rudman.
The Mitchell Committee is mainly to meet Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat.