By HASAN ABU NIMAH

US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell was in the region again last week. His visits no longer stir much interest or speculation about what he has brought with him to break the deadlock. Most concerned parties know well by now that he has not much left in his sack.
He came anyway, because all that is left for the bankrupt American-sponsored "peace process" is to keep trying the same old things in the hope that what failed before might suddenly show different results now. But apart from rearranging the words and trying to devise face-saving formulas, the results are no different.

Despite an intense campaign by Israel's US lobby to incite confrontation and war with Iran, and blame the Palestinians' supposed "preconditions" for the deadlock, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to be seen as the main culprit, obstructing American as well as international efforts to broker a peace deal. Netanyahu has rejected all the American proposals intended to enable Fateh leader Mahmoud Abbas to resume talks, and to enable Arab states, in addition, to reciprocate by taking further normalisation steps with the Jewish state.