Tony Blair is pushing for a broader mandate in the Middle East
that would give him a more direct role in peacemaking, expanding
the limited envoy job that world powers gave him last month,
diplomats said yesterday.
The former British prime minister tentatively plans to visit
Israel and the occupied West Bank next week for the first time as
envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United States,
the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.
Senior Western and European diplomats, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said talks over Blair's role were still under way and
that his visit could be postponed. Quartet officials planned to
discuss the issue yesterday in London, they said, adding that talks
were also taking place in Brussels.
Few details about Blair's plans have been made public since the
Quartet appointed him on June 27, the day he stepped down after 10
years in power. But he has been holding discussions with world
leaders about his role, which the Quartet defined as raising funds
for the Palestinians, building their ruling institutions and
promoting their economic development.
"He is talking to leaders about what he wants to do. He has made
clear the capacity-building mandate is not enough," said one senior
Western diplomat familiar with the discussions. "He doesn't see
himself bound to that. He wants a political role."
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A senior European diplomat in Jerusalem involved in the discussions
said Blair has delivered a similar message to Quartet members. "As
far as Blair is concerned, his mandate has not been finalized," the
diplomat said.
Despite some initial resistance within the EU to Blair's
appointment, a senior EU diplomat said there was growing support
within the bloc for giving him a freer hand politically.
"We think political should come over technical. There is a
discussion under way. I don't see him at all being a money
collector," the EU diplomat said.
In its June 27 announcement, the Quartet did not spell out any
political, mediating role for Blair in reviving the long-stalled
peace process.
Many Arab and European commentators seized on the omission as a
sign that Blair would be relegated to a peripheral role, leaving
any serious peacemaking to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and other leaders.
It is unclear whether the Quartet would agree, either formally
or informally, to an expanded role for Blair.
"A lot of things still need to be hammered out," a diplomat
involved in the Quartet said of Blair's position. "But he is Tony
Blair. He can pretty much do whatever he wants."
Some European diplomats have raised questions about Blair's
ability to garner broad Palestinian and Arab public support because
of his support for the US-led invasion of Iraq and his close ties
with US President George W. Bush.
Other officials say support from Bush is precisely Blair's
strength in the job because of US influence over Israel.
Washington wants to relaunch statehood talks through President
Mahmoud Abbas, who set up an emergency government in the occupied
West Bank last month after Hamas seized control of the Gaza
Strip.
To bolster Abbas and his secular Fatah faction, Israel has
started handing over hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen
funds to the Abbas-appointed government and recently agreed to
released 250 Fatah prisoners.
But Israel has so far resisted US pressure to negotiate final
status issues such as the fate of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees
and borders.
Hamas, still shunned by the United States and its European
allies after winning elections 18 months ago, has sought to cast
Blair as an ally of Israel.
(China Daily via agencies July 11, 2007)
