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Last update - 13:12 06/05/2009
Blair: Quartet to unveil new Mideast peace plan
By The Associated Press
Tags: Quartet, Tony Blair 

The U.S.-led Quartet of Mideast mediators is working on a new strategy for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and is expected to present it in five to six weeks, said Quartet envoy Tony Blair.

"The plan is being devised by the Obama administration, with input from others," Blair told Palestinian reporters.

"We're about to get a new framework," Blair said Tuesday evening, adding that he did not know the details. "The reason I say people should be more hopeful, is that this is a framework that is being worked on at the highest level in the American administration, [and] in the rest of the international community."
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The Obama administration has promised to work for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It has portrayed a two-state solution as the only way to solve the Mideast conflict and defined it as a U.S. national interest.

President Barack Obama is holding separate meetings at the White House this month with the Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders to hear their views.

Once those meetings are over, the Quartet is to convene in Washington to discuss and present the new strategy, Blair said. The Quartet includes the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. "I think that within the next five to six weeks, you will have a very clear picture of what the plan is," Blair said.

His comments were published at the same time as a report in the London-based paper Al-Quds al-Arabi, which said that Arab states are revising elements of a 2002 peace plan to encourage Israel to agree to the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks ended without tangible results last year. Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has yet to commit to a two-state solution.

The Palestinians are plagued by crippling internal division, with Gaza run by Hamas militants and the West Bank by U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Repeated efforts to forge a Palestinian unity deal, seen as a prerequisite for meaningful peace talks, have failed.

Blair said the international community is working on a new approach.

"The key thing for the next few weeks is to get an agreed strategy and then the key thing for the next few months is to implement it in a way that is credible for people," he said.



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      1.   Not Another Plan 12:29  |  Angela 06/05/09
      2.   Make a new plan Stan 12:45  |  Roo 06/05/09
      3.   Peace in our Time. 12:52  |  Razi 06/05/09
      4.   This plan will be built on the Saudi Plan model - my prediction 12:59  |  Ivar 06/05/09
      5.   BLAIR IS A FAILURE, HE IS NOTHING 13:16  |  indrajaya 06/05/09
      6.   the man with the plan now 90 years strong 13:21  |  v hardman 06/05/09
      7.   What about a detailed plane 13:23  |  Sun Tzu 06/05/09
      8.   7 year peace plan 13:32  |  David 06/05/09
      9.   Tony Who? 13:44  |  JW 06/05/09
      10.   Only acceptable plan to Ham/Fatah is Jews must get out of Israel 13:51  |  Alan SA 06/05/09
      11.   WARNING! POISON! 14:18  |  Peter 06/05/09
      12.   Impressive Organization - Now for the Details 15:02  |  Hank N Tennessee 06/05/09
      13.   Deja Vu 15:16  |  Arie 06/05/09
      14.   tony from balfour-allenby junction jJW.a daily reminder 15:30  |  lord samuel palmer 06/05/09
      15.   Indications Are 15:49  |  Yaakov Sullivan 06/05/09
      16.   Plan shman 15:55  |  Giora Me`ir 06/05/09
      17.   Plan B 15:58  |  Max 06/05/09
      18.   So the old Q.R.M. is now null & void. 15:58  |  Sarah 06/05/09
      19.   Plan!!! 16:32  |  Confused 06/05/09
      20.   Obama, is he coming or going ?! 17:15  |  Akram Zekaria 06/05/09
      21.   Let`s hope it`s not Munich sell out of palestinian land 17:19  |  jens 06/05/09
      22.   @David #8 17:45  |  JW 06/05/09
      23.   Sun Tzu 17:52  |  Alain 06/05/09
      24.   Yaakov Sullivan 17:56  |  Alain 06/05/09
      25.   You Are Wrong Alain on both counts 18:16  |  Yaakov Suillivan 06/05/09
      26.   These greedy Brits 18:19  |  Frank 06/05/09
      27.   needed: referendum among pals if they recognize israel or not 18:29  |  na 06/05/09
      28.   Alain to Sun Tzu 18:33  |  Sean 06/05/09
      29.   I do not trust Blair to do anything right in the Middle East 19:14  |  Secular 06/05/09
      30.   No peace plan 19:23  |  Frank 06/05/09
      31.   Sullivan queen of wrong (no pun intended) 21:33  |  Christopher 06/05/09
      32.   The Isolation of Israel 21:58  |  Binyamin 06/05/09
      33.   We Shall See, Tony, We Shall See 22:16  |  Jeff Northridge 06/05/09
      34.   I`m glad he ain`t singing for the UK no more 22:25  |  Welshman 06/05/09
      35.   Alain #24 22:29  |  Joan 06/05/09
      36.   Last thing I read on Blair ... 01:53  |  Jasper 07/05/09
      37.   Is Tony Blair a racialist? 02:10  |  Searcher of Truth 07/05/09
      38.   Alain 02:33  |  Iain 07/05/09
      39.   But Hamas Will Not Sign Mr Blair 05:33  |  Angela 07/05/09
      40.   A quick prediction.... 16:05  |  Johnboy 07/05/09
      41.   #37 Johnboy - Your predictions 18:17  |  *BEN JABO 07/05/09
      42.   #41 BEN JABO, Old Boy 01:04  |  Johnboy 08/05/09
      43.   #42 Johnboy - Of course you an expert on Somalia 02:20  |  *BEN JABO 08/05/09
      44.   Quartet of the Devil 02:27  |  Brod 08/05/09
      45.   This plan will require nothing of the "palestinians" 03:20  |  Frank 14/05/09
      46.   Imposing peace on Israel 04:01  |  abraham cohen 14/05/09
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