Last update - 00:00 20/06/2007
U.S., Quartet considering appointment of Mideast envoy
By Reuters
The United States and its Quartet partners are considering appointing a Middle East envoy to spearhead talks between Israel, the Palestinians and Arab states, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Bush administration officials have in recent months discussed the possibility of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who steps down next week, taking the post, though diplomats said it was unclear whether he wanted the job and whether a consensus would be reached within the Quartet of Middle East mediators.
The goal would be to spur negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as well as promote an Arab land-for-peace initiative.
Olmert "thinks Tony Blair is a very positive figure and he would be very happy to see him continue to be actively involved in the Middle East", Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said.
Blair's office and the White House would neither confirm nor deny that the outgoing British prime minister was a candidate for the envoy post.
"We know there's going to be a lot of speculation over the next few weeks about what he's going to do next, but we're not going to comment on any of it," Blair's spokesman said.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said: "We're engaged... we've got a lot of stuff going on. But at this particular point we're not in the business of designating envoys."
Israel wants to isolate Hamas economically, diplomatically and militarily in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist group seized control last week.
At the same time, Israel and the United States want to bolster the emergency government set up by Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after he dismissed a unity cabinet led by Hamas.
Members of the Quartet -- the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations -- have been drafting proposals to bolster peace talks.
The UN has been considering for months the appointment of a special envoy who would represent the broader Quartet in any future push for peace talks.
The Quartet's last envoy, James Wolfensohn, stepped down more than a year ago and had focused largely on economic issues before Hamas came to power.
The Arab proposal, revived at a summit in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it seized in the 1967 Middle East war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.
Asked during a recent visit to the region if she might appoint a special Middle East envoy, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "Let's see how it evolves. I'm quite flexible on what geometry we use."
UN Mideast envoy calls for action to stop Palestinian divide
The new UN Middle East envoy called on Wednesday for action to stop the Palestinian territories being split in two after Hamas crushed the forces of President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza.
In his first report to the Security Council since his appointment last month, Briton Michael Williams also said the world body had a key role to play in reopening crossing points between Israel and the Gaza Strip to ease the flow of aid.
"I call on all not to allow this vital humanitarian issue to be overshadowed by political considerations," he said.
Hamas Islamist militias overran Abbas's Fatah faction and seized control of Gaza a week ago. In response, Abbas disbanded the Hamas-led Palestinian unity government and formed an emergency cabinet in the West Bank.
Williams said the violence in Gaza was "totally unacceptable" and that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "regrets the failure of the National Unity Government".
Despite dismay at events in Gaza, Israel and its Western allies have welcomed the exclusion of Hamas from the new government, a move paving the way for them to lift their economic and diplomatic blockade on the Palestinian Authority.
Williams said the United Nations faced the challenge of "how to restore the unity of the Palestinian Authority and people, and prevent the de facto divide between Gaza and the West Bank."
"Despite what has happened, Gaza and the West Bank remain one Palestinian territory, legally administered by one Palestinian Authority headed by President Abbas," he said.
Williams urged Israel to make good on commitments to release Palestinian tax and customs receipts, evacuate settlement outposts, remove roadblocks and checkpoints and release prisoners. The Palestinian Authority, for its part, should thoroughly reform itself, he added.
Williams said Ban hoped the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union -- would meet soon.
The group had planned to meet in Cairo on June 26-27, but that has been shelved following the Gaza violence. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Wednesday the meeting would happen "at some point" but probably not in June.
Williams told reporters he saw "little chance in the short run" of any U.N. peace-keeping force being sent to Gaza, an idea that has been discussed in the region.
"It would have to be with the agreement of all the parties concerned and one of those parties ... namely Hamas, has said very, very clearly and unequivocally that they would be opposed to such a force," he said.
Williams took over his job from Peruvian Alvaro de Soto, who resigned with a confidential final report criticizing Israel and the United States. In reply to a question, the new envoy distanced himself from his predecessor's views.