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Tony Blair Could Broker Middle East Peace
Middle East mediators held talks on Tuesday that could clear the way for the appointment of Tony Blair as their envoy to try to revive peace prospects after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip. Blair, who steps down as Britain's prime minister on Wednesday, said in London that he was prepared to help bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but he offered no details about his future role. Diplomats close to the so-called Quartet powers - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - said Blair was likely to be named to the top peacemaking position soon. However, Hamas said Blair was not welcome because of his role in supporting U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Story Continues Below Washington and its European and Arab allies have stepped up pressure on Israel to jumpstart talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah faction, following Hamas's violent takeover of Gaza nearly two weeks ago. Israeli officials said they were considering a new request from Abbas to bring a Jordan-based Fatah force known as the Badr Brigade into the West Bank to try to shore up his control. "It is being evaluated and a decision will be made soon," a senior Israeli government official told Reuters. Representatives from the Quartet met at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, seeking to define the mandate for their new envoy. The meeting ended with no public announcements. Washington has confirmed the Quartet was discussing the appointment of an envoy to help Abbas build up the institutions of a future Palestinian state and carry out political and economic reforms.
Some European diplomats have questioned Blair's ability to garner broad Palestinian and Arab public support because of his leading role in the Iraq war and his close relationship with U.S. President George W. Bush. Many Arabs see the Bush administration as biased against the Palestinians. Blair, who steps down after 10 years in power, has frequently urged Bush to take a more assertive role in trying to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I think anybody who cares about greater peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential and, as I have said on many occasions, I would do whatever I could to help such a resolution come about," Blair told reporters in London. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would support Blair's appointment as Quartet envoy, aides said. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhmoum criticized the likely appointment. "Blair has his own black fingerprints in the history of the Palestinian people. He had supported the Zionist occupation's terrorism and massacres against our people," he said. Bush administration officials first floated the idea of appointing Blair to the envoy post in private meetings earlier this year, long before Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip more than a week ago, Western diplomats said. Abbas responded to Gaza's takeover by sacking the Hamas-led government and forming an emergency cabinet in the West Bank. That has divided the Palestinian territories into a Hamas-controlled Gaza and a larger, Fatah-dominated West Bank. Olmert has so far promised to free hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax funds to Abbas and to release 250 Fatah prisoners from Israeli jails in a bid to bolster him. Ismail Haniyeh, who serves as prime minister in the Hamas-led government dismissed by Abbas, said Olmert's gestures were aimed at "throwing dust in our eyes."
© Reuters 2007.
Editor's note:
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