Israel's Ma'ariv said on Monday that Washington intends to replace Sen. George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East peace, possibly with Martin Indyk or Dennis Ross. The Israeli report, which was not confirmed by other media outlets, added that the reasons for the change was Mitchell's inability to resume talks between Israel and the Palestinians and Obama administration's bid to "pump new blood" into the rickety peace process.
The newspaper conveyed that it had received many reports in recent weeks, indicating growing tensions between Mitchell and Ross in the White House. Their opinions differed on how to best convince Israeli PM Netanyahu to resume direct negotiations. According to the report, Ross opposes applying more intense pressure to Netanyahu.
