Translated material
Middle Eastern premiere
Tony Blair will live in the house of the British commissioner
Yesterday , retired British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in the Middle East as an international mediator . He is tasked with trying to extinguish the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that has been burning for almost six decades. Mr Blair is widely disliked in the Arab world for his support of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, which will complicate his peacekeeping efforts.The post of special envoy of the Middle East Quartet (USA, Russia, UN, European Union) gives Tony Blair special powers. On the eve of the visit, he himself expressed cautious optimism about his mission: “I will probably need the quality of tenacity to complete the task before me, but I am determined to try to accomplish it.”
Tony Blair's unmarked white plane landed at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv yesterday afternoon. The Briton quickly left the terminal, accompanied by a heavily armed escort of motorcyclists. The special envoy's path lay in the five-star King David Hotel in Jerusalem. A crowd of journalists was already waiting for him there, but all they could do was click their cameras. Blair silently made his way through the crowd and proceeded to his room.
Already yesterday evening, the special envoy held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He has five meetings scheduled for today. In Israel, he will hold talks with opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres and have dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. In the middle of the day, Blair plans to visit the Palestinian city of Ramallah and talk with the leader of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz notes, Blair does not want to create unnecessary noise around his visit to the Middle East. So you shouldn’t expect any particularly loud statements during his stay in Israel.
“Tony Blair’s visit is for informational purposes,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry told a Vremya Novostei correspondent. “In the future, we hope that in the course of his work Blair will pay special attention to supporting moderate forces in the Palestinian Authority, in particular Mahmoud Abbas.” But for now, according to the Haaretz newspaper, Blair does not intend to rush into Middle East peace initiatives. He plans to first listen to all sides of the conflict and focus on financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority.
Yesterday, Blair was given a pleasant surprise by the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), which seized power in the Gaza Strip more than a month ago. One of the group’s representatives, Sami Abu Zuhri, in an interview with the British newspaper The Times, said that his movement is ready to cooperate with the new Middle East envoy: “We will not say no to anyone, including Tony Blair.” Just two weeks ago, contrary statements were heard from the Hamas camp. “When Blair was head of the British government, he constantly took a pro-Israeli position, so we do not believe that he will be able to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and we do not intend to cooperate with him,” Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad said then.
Meanwhile, Israel is actively discussing the future residence of the special envoy. Tony Blair clearly chose the location of his representative office not by chance. He will live in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv (Viceroy's Palace), in a building that was built in 1929-1933 during the British Mandate in Palestine specifically for the High Commissioner. According to Christian tradition, this place has a bad reputation. According to legend, it was here that Judas Iscariot held a council with the high priests, after which he decided to betray his Teacher.