October 23, 2009 George Mitchell on Israeli-Palestinian conflict Play video

(NECN: Marnie MacLean, Waterville, Maine) - One of President Barack Obama's special envoys to the Middle East is in New England this weekend. As he prepares to brief the president on progress overseas, George Mitchell is at home in Maine.

Mitchell, a former U.S. Senator, was instrumental in brokering a peace deal in Northern Ireland in 1999. Now, Obama has asked him to do the same for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

He now spends much of his time in the Middle East, but for Mitchell, Maine will always be home.

Mitchell was greeted warmly by a large crowd at Colby College....the same place where his father once worked as a janitor.

It is in part to honor his father...and mother, that Mitchell says he agreed to take on the task of bringing peace to the middle east.

Just two days after being sworn in, President Obama named Mitchell as special envoy to the middle east.

Mitchell has been conducting shuttle diplomacy for months... meeting with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders and urging them to agree to resume peace talks.

He says it's too soon to judge whether the effort is working... he pointed to his experience in Northern Ireland...where it took him five years to broker a peace deal.

He does say the situation in the middle east is difficult and complex, with mistrust on both sides. He says the recent United Nations report accusing Israel and Palestinian militants of committing war crimes last

Despite the challenges...and slow progress...Mitchell says he will stay the course.

Mitchell told the crowd at Colby it his job to create an attitude of hope....not in an unrealistic or foolish way, but in a way that establishes confidence and the prospect of success.

It it his belief that there is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended.