Tuesday, July 24, 2007


JERUSALEM, Jul. 24, 2007 (AP Online delivered by Newstex) -- Setting out with optimism, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Israel and the Palestinians on Tuesday to seize on a 'sense of possibility,' and made plans to set up a permanent office in the region to pursue his mission of laying the groundwork for Mideast peace.

More violence underscored Blair's difficulties _ an outbreak of factional clashes among rival Palestinians in the West Bank and an Israeli air raid against Palestinian extremists in the Gaza Strip.

Blair, who visited the region several times during his decade as prime minister, told the Palestinians his first trip as envoy for the 'Quartet' of Mideast mediators was intended to gather input for formulating his strategy, officials said.

He had a working dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later Tuesday night and was due to leave early Wednesday.

Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said the meeting lasted more than two hours, during which the Israeli leader pledged his full cooperation with Blair's efforts. The two men agreed to meet on Blair's future visits.

Blair was to return in early September and hoped to have an office in place in Jerusalem for a full time staff. His spokesman said conversations about office space at a U.N. complex were at an early stage, and that Blair himself plans to spend about one week every month in the area.

'I think there is a sense of possibility, but whether that sense of possibility can be translated into something, that is something that needs to be worked at and thought about over time,' Blair said after meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Peres, speaking at Blair's side, added a note of caution to his own optimism. 'I feel there is a serious window of opportunity to advance peace,' he said. 'I don't know the duration of this opportunity, I am afraid it is not too long.'

Blair has been tasked by the Quartet _ the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia _ to prepare the foundations for a stable, economically strong West Bank government that could lead the Palestinians into statehood, but to leave the hard political issues at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict alone.

Israel says those questions can only be resolved in bilateral negotiations between it and the Palestinians.

'The Prime Minister stated that he thinks it's worthwhile to advance many small issues that will succeed rather than a few large issues that would fail,' Eisin said of Tuesday evening's talks.

She said the two men discussed prospects for Palestinian economic development, aid and ways to encourage investment in the West Bank, and that Israel committed to ease restrictions on Palestinian movement within the West Bank.

But Palestinian leaders told Blair that politics cannot easily be separated from economics, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. President Mahmoud Abbas and his pro-Western prime minister, Salam Fayyad, urged Blair to push a political agenda that would help restart direct talks with Israel on the core issues.

'What will make the requirement for peace at the end of the day will be the bilateral Israeli-Palestinian tracks,' said Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator.

On Wednesday, the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers arrive in Israel to formally present an Arab plan revived at an Arab summit in Saudi Arabia in March, which envisions full recognition of Israel in return for evacuation of lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

'All encouraging elements are available if the Israeli side wishes to go ahead with the resumption of the peace process,' Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in Cairo.

Olmert has said the Arab plan is a good basis for discussions, although Israel objects to several key provisions.

Blair's motorcade drove along the separation barrier that Israel has constructed through much of the West Bank, traveling from the Mount of Olives about two miles to the Abu Dis neighborhood that straddles Jerusalem and the West Bank. Along the way he passed graffiti scrawled in large letters on the barrier's high stone slabs, 'No good will come of this evil wall.'

Israel says the barrier, about two-thirds complete along its planned 425-mile route, is meant to stop suicide bombers, but the Palestinians call it a land grab. The U.N.'s International Court of Justice in The Hague has declared the structure illegal.

Palestinian business leaders told Blair that Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank have stifled the economy.

They also discussed economic matters in Gaza, which Hamas violently took over last month, prompting Abbas to install his pro-Western West Bank government.

'Blair recognizes and understands that Gaza can't be separated. He understands that the Gaza economy is important and vital for our economy, the West Bank economy,' said businessman Samir Huleileh. 'Reform and economy can't be tackled without Gaza being an integral component.'

As he visited Ramallah, riots erupted at the An Najah University in Nablus, about 30 miles away.

A Palestinian student was shot and seriously wounded during a brawl among some 15,000 supporters of Abbas' Fatah and the rival Hamas movement. The melee injured at least three other people, the worst West Bank clash between the groups since Gaza fell violently to Hamas last month.

Thousands of Hamas supporters marched Tuesday night in Gaza, protesting the Nablus incident and condemning Abbas and Fatah.

No one was injured in the Israeli air raid in Gaza that hit a three-story building's top floor. The military refused to comment on the airstrike's target.

Newstex ID: AP-0001-18376973


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