Blair meets with Abbas
Tony Blair met with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank this weekend as part of a Middle Eastern tour to try to secure peace in the region.
Today’s meeting at Mr Abbas’ compound in the town of Ramallah follows the prime minister’s meeting with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.
At a press conference following the talks with the Palestinian president, Mr Blair stressed the need to refocus peace efforts on the agreement of a two-state solution between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Emphasising the importance of the so-called “road map” to achieving peace in the Middle East, Mr Blair said: “We must obviously recommit ourselves to the two-state solution…and to the roadmap as the means of getting there.”
He added that in the past months the situation in the Middle East had “gone backwards, not forwards,” but said he believed there was now a “window of opportunity” to work towards peace once again.
Mr Abbas said that the result of the talks with Mr Blair had been to “intensify all the efforts to reach an agreement of peace” and to achieve a two-state solution in the Middle East and end Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, which began in 1965.
“It’s time now to stop the agony of the Palestinian people and the grievances they have encountered. It’s their right to prosper and acquire stable lives,” added the Palestinian president.
Israeli premier Mr Olmert confirmed after talks with Mr Blair yesterday, that he was willing to meet with Mr Abbas in an effort to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process.
But there has been continuing violence in Gaza and the recent 34-day conflict between Israel and the militant group Hizbullah in Lebanon.
Ahead of Mr Blair’s talks with Mr Abbas today, Downing Street said the prime minister would be waiting to hear the Palestinian president’s response to the Israeli offer of fresh peace talks.
“The purpose of this visit was to hear the views from all sides so we came here to hear the views of the Palestinian president,” a spokesman said.
He added that Mr Blair would “bring with him the views he heard from Prime Minister Olmert and look to hear Palestinian views and Palestinian concerns and try to see how we can get back to some sort of dialogue”.
However, Mr Blair, who has argued that achieving peace in the Middle East is essential to the rest of the world, has been criticised by figures including the country’s top Shi’ite cleric for his support of Israel and the United States during the recent Lebanese conflict.
In a statement ahead of Mr Blair’s scheduled visit to the Lebanese capital Beirut tomorrow, Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah condemned the prime minister’s decision not to call for an immediate truce in the region. He also attacked him for allowing US planes to use British airports to transport bombs to Israel.
Mr Fadallah said that the Lebanese government should have told Mr Blair that he was “not wanted in Lebanon, so that he – and those like him – would know that we are not so naive as to welcome him when he has contributed to killing us and slaughtering our children”.
Lebanese officials have confirmed that their talks with Mr Blair will focus on the United Nations (UN) truce that ended fighting in Lebanon, which killed almost 1,200 people in the country and nearly 157 Israelis.
