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US has new job for Blair
21/06/2007 09:24 - (SA)
Washington - The White House is pushing for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be made a special envoy to work on forming a Palestinian state after he steps down next week, reports said on Thursday.
US newspapers cited unnamed officials as saying that the administration of President George W Bush was laying the groundwork for Blair to be appointed as an envoy for Palestinian state-building.
If he accepted the job, he would represent the diplomatic Quartet for the Middle East, comprising the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.
David Welch, the US assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, met with Blair in London on Wednesday, according to the New York Times.
White House and State Department officials earlier refused to confirm or deny reports linking Blair to the role, but State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said the appointment of a new envoy was critical amid fresh hopes of establishing a Palestinian state.
"There is this idea out there of, can we identify a person that could fulfill those functions? And I think that the idea has some merit. Clearly, there needs to be some more consultations on the matter," McCormack said.
"But as for particular individuals, at this point I'm certainly not going to get into it."
'A need to perform that particular function'
The BBC reported that Blair's spokesperson would not confirm claims by senior US administration officials that the prime minister was interested in the role.
The quartet had a previous envoy, James Wolfensohn, who took up the post in May 2005.
He worked on co-ordinating Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and tried to spearhead reconstruction with a view to Palestinian sovereignty there, but left the post a year later in frustration with the stymied peace process.
McCormack said there is now "a need to perform that particular function in working with the Palestinians in the Palestinian system" to develop institutions for a "well governed" state.
Blair is due to step down as prime minister on June 27 after 10 years in power. Under the Bush administration's plan, he would report to the Quartet and focus on Palestinian internal issues, the Washington Post said.
Political negotiations involving the Palestinians and countries including Israel would be left to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose idea it was to consider him, the newspaper added.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency last week after the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip. He dismissed the Hamas-led government and appointed an emergency cabinet.
Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after talks in Washington on Tuesday that they hoped Abbas and his new moderate cabinet could pave the way towards renewed talks on creating a Palestinian state.
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