U.N. envoy dispatched to Mideast

UNITED NATIONS, May 22 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent his new Middle East envoy Michael Williams to the region amid the latest outbreak of violence.

Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas, Tuesday said Williams, whose appointment was announced only last week, is to hold consultations after intra-Palestinian clashes, Israeli military operations and Palestinian rocket attacks.

Williams is expected to start holding meetings Thursday with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, Montas told reporters at U.N. World Headquarters in New York.

Williams is then scheduled to travel to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for further talks.

Montas Monday voiced hope a cease-fire reached among the Palestinian factions would hold after a week of deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip.

Last week Ban announced that Williams would served as the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, as the secretary-general's personal representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority and also as his envoy to the international diplomatic Quartet for the Middle East. The world organization's partners in the Quartet are the European Union, Russia and the United States.