Blair: Palestine must reform before full peace conference
Tony Blair has said that the onus is upon the Palestine Authority to reform before a full peace conference on progress in the region is held.
He added that there will be no progress on peace in the Middle East until Palestinians put in place measures to prevent suicide bombers and ensure the stability of their state.
The Prime Minister said that the Palestinians now had to choose between “sympathy and reality”.
Speaking at his monthly press conference in Downing Street, Mr Blair said that the upcoming London conference – scheduled for January or February this year – would be an opportunity to help Palestine put in place measures – on security, the economy for example – to allow them to be not just a stable partner state for Israel but also a stable partner for the world community in helping resolve the conflict.
He maintained that there was no point in calling for a full-scale peace conference on a final settlement until “preparatory” work had been done by the Palestine Authority.
Without structures that provide an “insurance” against suicide bombers, the Prime Minister said that there was no point in asking for a peace conference.
