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Sending Blair to the Middle East

Quartet Meets to Discuss New Special Envoy

Mideast Quartet representatives are meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday to discuss the possible appointment of outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as its special envoy. The meeting comes a day after Israel announced the release of 250 Fatah prisoners in an attempt to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' emergency government.

Representatives of the Mideast Quartet are meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday, a day after Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders held talks. The quartet -- comprised of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia -- is holding its first talks since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip two weeks ago and is reported to be discussing the possible appointment of outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as its new envoy to the region.

Diplomats close to the quartet powers told Reuters that Blair, who steps down as British prime minister on Wednesday, was likely to be named to the top peacemaking position soon and Washington confirmed that an envoy is to be appointed who will help Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas build up the institutions of a future Palestinian state.

Speaking a press conference in London on Tuesday, Blair said: "I think anybody who cares about greater peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential and, as I have said on many occasions, I would do whatever I could to help such a resolution come about." The previous quartet special envoy, former World Bank president James Wolfenshohn, resigned in April 2006, one year into the job, citing frustration with the lack of progress in the peace process.

If anything the situation is even worse today. The Palestinian territories are now effectively split in two, with the Gaza Strip controlled by the Islamic Hamas, while secular Fatah dominates the West Bank. Israel and the United States are hoping to isolate Hamas by supporting the emergency government appointed by Abbas.

Olmert Announces Prisoner Release

On Monday Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, in an attempt to boost the Palestinian leader. During the high-profile meeting, Olmert said that he was releasing 250 Palestinian prisoners, a move he said would prepare the ground for future peace talks with Abbas.

As well as releasing 250 Fatah prisoners "who do not have blood on their hands, with their commitment not to involve themselves again in terror," Olmert said that Palestinians' ability to move around in the West Bank would be "substantially" improved by lifting roadblocks. "The residents of the West Bank will feel that choosing the path of no terror or violence, the way of peace and dialogue, will bring a better, more comfortable, more peaceful life," he said. On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet agreed to start unfreezing hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenues to help finance Abbas' emergency government.

At the meeting in Egypt President Abbas emphasized that "it is time to relaunch the peace process." He said that "despite the bloody coup in Gaza, we are still determined to work relentlessly to achieve the independence and freedom of our people."

Arab leaders are concerned that an Islamic-controlled Gaza Strip could become a breeding ground for extremism in the region. Egypt is worried that a Hamas-ruled Gaza Stip on its border could embolden its own Muslim Brotherhood, and Jordan is concerned that the conflict between Fatah and Hamas could spread to the West Bank, which is on its border.

Mubarak also spoke of a return to dialogue between Hamas and Fatah, "an urgent necessity that can't wait." While Hamas has said it is prepared to hold talks with their Fatah rivals, so far Abbas has refused contacts with the militant group.

Al-Qaida Makes Overtures to Hamas

There were worrying developments in the Gaza Strip on Monday, with the captors of the BBC journalist Alan Johnston releasing a recording of him wearing what appeared to be the kind of explosives belt used by suicide bombers, and saying the kidnappers, The Army of Islam, would set off the explosives if either Hamas or the British government tried to rescue him by force. Hamas also released a tape of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit to mark the anniversary of his capture at an army post near Gaza.

Meanwhile, al-Qaida called on Muslims everywhere to back Hamas with weapons and attacks on Israeli and US targets. In an audio tape released on Monday, al-Qaida's deputy chief Ayman al-Zawahri urged Muslims to give Hamas money and "break the siege imposed on them by the crusaders and Arab leader traitors."

But the Palestinian Islamist group seemed to reject the al-Qaida overture. A senior Hamas official, Ahmed Yousef, told the Associated Press that al-Qaida "is not the frame of reference for Hamas."

Hamas won parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories in January 2006, and in March Hamas and Fatah formed a unity government. But ongoing tensions of the control of the security forces in the Gaza Strip escalated into a civil war two weeks ago, resulting in a Hamas take-over, after which Abbas formed an emergency government in the West Bank.

smd/ap/reuters