GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine gave an optimistic assessment for peace prospects in the Middle East while he was in Pennsylvania to speak at a college commencement Sunday.

“There is no such thing as a conflict that can’t be concluded,” Mitchell said before his address to 501 graduates of Gettysburg College. “Conflict is begun, is conducted and ended by human beings.”

The former Democratic Senate majority leader led a fact-finding mission that issued a blueprint for peace in the war-ravaged region.

Mitchell said that despite 2,000 deaths in the last 18 months in the Middle East, hope is alive for peace. He said the situation has grown unbearable for ordinary Palestinians and Israelis and there is incentive on both sides to end the violence.

“The whole story of this tragic conflict is that each escalation in force produces a counterescalation by the other side,” said Mitchell. “There is no way to achieve a military victory in this conflict. It can only be achieved through negotiations.”