MIDEAST: Blair's visit to the Middle East raises hopes for peace alongside harsh criticism

British Prime Minister Tony Blair paid a visit to the Middle East on Sunday (September 10), aimed at encouraging the revival of a long-stalled peace negotiations. Blair who met Israeli and Palestinian leaders across the region raised hopes for the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but at the same time met rejection and protest against his foreign policy. While meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Blair said the international community should deal with a future Palestinian unity government if it breaks with policies of the boycotted Hamas-led administration. "I believe that such a government, based on the Quartet requirements, does offer the possibility of re-engagement by the international community," Blair said. The Quartet of Middle East peace brokers -- the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia -- have cut aid to the current Hamas-led government, demanding it recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past interim peace deals. "And I would like to say that so far as I'm concerned, that if such a (unity) government is formed, then I believe that is right that the international community deal with such a government," he said at a news conference with Abbas. Abbas said he would travel to Gaza later in the day to continue efforts to form a joint administration with Hamas, an Islamic militant group that defeated his Fatah party in a January election. Hamas, which is dedicated to Israel's destruction and defeated Abbas's Fatah party in a January election, responded to Blair's comments by reiterating its rejection of the Quartet's demands to change its policy towards Israel. "...," said Hamas Spokesperson Sami abu Zhuri. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas accused Blair of "one-sided" policies that have punished the Palestinian people and their elected government. "...," Haniyeh said from Gaza. Hamas has resisted international pressure and calls by Abbas to soften its policy towards Israel, whose destruction it advocates. When he visits Israel and Palestinian areas this weekend, Blair pushed Israel to revive talks with Abbas, whose Fatah faction was trounced by Hamas in parliamentary elections in January. Haniyeh said Blair's visit to the region could have been an opportunity for face-to-face talks with democratically-elected Hamas leaders. But Haniyeh said "that is not possible since (Blair's) government has decided not to recognise mine." Britain has backed a Western aid boycott of the Hamas-led government, preventing it from paying salaries to 165,000 workers since March. Partial payments have been made in recent months using funds from European and Arab donors. Haniyeh said Blair's policies amounted to "collective punishment" of the Palestinian people and gave a green light to Israel to take military action. Israel launched an offensive in Gaza after militants seized an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25. An estimated 210 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, have been killed. Haniyeh accused Blair of caring more about freeing three captured Israeli soldiers -- one held by Gaza militants and two by Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon -- than about the fate of Hamas government ministers, Hamas lawmakers and thousands of other Palestinians held in Israeli jails. In Ramallah dozens of protesters, inspired by Palestinians leaders took to the streets, demanding Blair to leave Palestinian areas. Last Thursday (September 7) hundreds of Palestinians including politicians and intellectuals published a letter, accusing Blair of excessive support for Israel. "He is coming here in order to wash his hands, that are dripping with Lebanese blood, with Palestinian water," the group of Palestinians wrote in an ad placed in the al-Ayyam newspaper. "We, the signatories... notables, intellectuals and political figures declare that Tony Blair is persona non-grata in our country." The notice said Palestinian leaders should cancel Blair's trip. It was signed by members of smaller political parties, university professors, activists from non-governmental organisations and hundreds of ordinary Palestinians. The signatories did not include politicians from Abbas's Fatah group or the governing militant Hamas movement. But Abbas said on Sunday he was ready to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as soon as possible to resume peace negotiations. Olmert, who voiced a willingness on Saturday to hold talks with Abbas, told the Israeli cabinet it was time to create a "new horizon" with the Palestinians, officials said. "I stand fully ready to meet the prime minister... without prior conditions and we are ready to begin immediately the preparations for this meeting," Abbas said at the conference with But Olmert has made clear there could be no progress towards peace unless the Palestinians met their obligations under an internationally-backed "road map" that calls for the dismantling of armed groups, such as the governing Hamas. Israel also has failed to carry out its commitments under the peace plan, including a construction freeze in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Earlier on Sunday Blair met Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Amir Peretz in Jerusalem. On the sideline of his visit he also met the families of Gilad Shalit, who was abducted on June 25 by Gaza militants and Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser who were kidnapped on July 12 by Hizbollah guerillas, an incident which triggered a 34-day war in Lebanon. A British official accompanying Blair said the families expressed the wish that their beloved ones would be home to celebrate the Jewish New Year on September 22, and that Palestinian prisoners too would be able to celebrate Muslim Ramadan on September 23. Signs of movement in Middle East peacemaking could give Blair a political boost as he grapples with feuding in Britain's ruling party and an unpopular war in Iraq that forced him to concede this week that he will leave office within a year.

ITN Source | September 11, 2006

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