Last update - 00:00 13/07/2007
Quartet of Middle East mediators set to meet in Lisbon on July 19
By Reuters
The Quartet of Middle East mediators will meet in Lisbon on July 19 at what could be former British premier Tony Blair's first meeting as the group's envoy, a Portuguese Foreign Ministry source said on Friday.
The Quartet is made up of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on a visit to Portugal on that day and is expected to attend.
Blair, who was appointed by the Quartet on June 27 - the same day he stepped down after 10 years in power - may attend, according to diplomatic sources.
"I still don't know but I think yes (that Blair is coming)," said the foreign ministry source, adding that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov may also come.
In Brussels, an EU official said the meeting in Lisbon was not likely to involve Arab states such as Saudi Arabia as talks between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are going quite well.
"The Olmert-Abbas track is going well, the idea is to let that run and not disturb that," said the EU official.
Olmert has said he expects to meet Abbas early next week to discuss, among other things, Israel's gesture to free 250 members of Abbas's Fatah faction from jail. Israel holds about 10,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The Quartet's meeting will also be its first since Hamas captured Gaza from Abbas' Fatah movement in June. That transformed the Palestinian political and security landscape, effectively dividing the Palestinians between Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.
The Quartet last met in Germany on May 30.
Since his appointment, Blair has sought a broader role as Middle East envoy that would give him more direct involvement in peacemaking, diplomats have told Reuters.
"The Quartet will not give him a free hand but Blair is a huge political figure and will to a certain extent do what he wants to do," said the EU official.
The Quartet had defined Blair's role as raising funds for the Palestinians, building their ruling institutions and promoting their economic development.