Terrorism & Security
posted November 14, 2006 at 11:40 a.m.

Blair calls for new focus on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

British PM says that conflict's resolution is key to peace for the Middle East.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

In a major policy speech Monday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for renewed effort on finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he called the "core" to a wider peace in the Middle East.

The Guardian reports that in the speech, which the paper called "an open plea" to US President George Bush to focus on the conflict, Mr. Blair said the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle is the key to pinning back "the forces trying to create mayhem inside Iraq."



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Mr Blair, famously cautious about pressing the Republican administration in public, is trying to seize the rare indecision in Washington in response to the Democrat victories to persuade the White House to acknowledge the central importance of the Palestinian peace process.

He will repeat the message when he gives video evidence today to the Iraq Study Group in Washington, the bipartisan panel seen as the vehicle by which George Bush could rethink his Iraq strategy. Mr Blair is working towards a regional Middle East peace conference, but many of his advisers question whether Mr Bush has the political will to make a renewed effort on Palestine.

The BBC reports that Blair also challenged Iran and Syria to become part of the peace process in the Middle East. While he favors dialogue with these two countries, Blair said it could not come "at any price." He said Iran, in particular, was trying to use "pressure points in the region" - Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine - to stop international efforts to reign in Iran's nuclear program.

"We offer Iran a clear strategic choice. They help the Middle East peace process, not hinder it. They stop supporting terrorism in Lebanon or Iraq. They abide by, not flout, their international obligations. In that case, a new partnership is possible. Or alternatively, they face the consequence of not doing so - isolation."

The Independent reports that a spokesman for Blair's office denied that this was a "softening" of British policy, as the British government has always been open to the idea of dialogue with Iran and Syria. He added, however, that this was a "moment when people are rethinking policy, and the time to articulate a way forward."

Anne Penketh, a commentator for The Independent, writes that the Iranians and Syrians "must have been choking on their tea" last night, as they were invited to join in the creation of "the new Middle East." The new word in the Middle East, she writes, is "recalibration." Britain and the US need the help of these two nations because unless they can persuade them to help in Iraq, the insurgents there "can smell the defeat of a superpower."

Why should Iran and Syria help the US and Britain at this stage? Because it is in their interests to do so – and retain important leverage in their own region. The Iranians have long felt slighted by the Americans, who rewarded them with the "axis of evil" speech after they helped the US in Afghanistan and in Iraq in the days that followed the overthrow of Saddam.

The Syrians, too, say that they have acted on US requests to control the porous border with Iraq, and have deployed 10,000 troops there.

But one thing has changed in the three years since the US and Britain invaded Iraq. And that is the rapport de force in the region, where Iran and Syria hold the upper hand after the Lebanon war. Mr Blair and Mr Bush – and Ehud Olmert of Israel – now have the role of lame ducks.

Blair's speech calling for a new approach to the Middle East was the second major announcement in two days calling for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the Alliance of Civilizations, a UN-sponsored group created to find ways to bridge the growing divide between Muslim and Western societies, said in a new report that the struggle between Israel and the Palestinian territories was the "central driver" in world tensions.

"Our emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not meant to imply that it is the overt cause of all tensions between Muslim and Western societies," write the report's authors, a group of academics and present and former government officials from 19 different countries. "Nevertheless, it is our view that the Israeli-Palestinian issue has taken on a symbolic value that colors cross cultural and political relations ... well beyond its limited geographic scope."

The International Herald Tribune reports, however, there is little indication that the Bush administration will move more forcefully on the Israeli-Palestinian issue or that it will adopt a different approach towards Iran. Haaretz reports that after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Monday, Mr. Bush called for "international isolation of Iran" until it gives up its nuclear program.

"If they continue to move forward with the program, there has to be a consequence," Bush told reporters. "And a good place to start is working together to isolate the country. And my hope is that there are rational people inside the government who recognize isolation is not in their country's interest."

Haaretz also reports that Mr. Olmert angered Democrats after the meeting when he praised the war in Iraq, saying it had helped to "stabilize the region." A Democratic official said that if Mr. Olmert meant his comments as he said them, "they are not acceptable and can be seen as an attempt to influence the American political dispute."

The Daily Telegraph reports that Blair's plan for dialogue with the Iranians could be affected by a new allegation from an unnamed intelligence source that claims Iran is trying to affect the leadership structure of Al Qaeda. The source alleges that Iran wants Saif al-Adel, a 46-year-old former colonel in Egypt's special forces, to be the organization's "number three" leader because he is friendlier towards Iran.

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