By: CHRIS GRAEME
WORLD LEADERS from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations met in Lisbon on Thursday (July 19) to discuss ways of resolving the Palestinian crisis in the Middle East.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, EU Foreign Policy and Security High Representative Javier Solana and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hopes of healing divisions between Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Peace Quartet
The meeting, dubbed ‘Peace Quartet’ (Quarteto da Paz), aimed at finding ways of ending the current stalemate in the Middle East
 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov |
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peace process, followed an intense week of international diplomatic shuttling between New York, Brussels, and Lisbon.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said the Quartet’s and Mr. Blair’s ultimate aim was to “bring about an independent, viable, democratic Palestinian state, living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security”.
To that end, Javier Solana met with Tony Blair last week in Brussels before flying on to Lisbon, Jerusalem and Ramallah on Thursday.
Tony Blair was appointed last month as Special Envoy for the Middle East with Thursday’s visit to Lisbon being his first official meeting in his new role after stepping down as Britain’s Prime Minister following a decade in power.
Tony Blair’s initial brief is to try and help the Palestinians to develop their own institutions and economy. “Peace is something I have been very passionate about for many years and it is of such fundamental importance to the world to bring about a solution to this issue,” he said.
“A viable Palestinian state is a vision that has been set out by President Bush and is shared by the whole international community, but a viable Palestinian state will not come about unless the conditions for it are present, and those conditions are that it must be viable not just in terms of territory but also institutions and its capacity for statehood,” added Tony Blair.
Optimism
Tony Blair stressed that no political negotiations would ever work unless those conditions were present and that it was important for him to work with the Palestinians and the international community to make sure that the circumstances were right so that Palestinian statehood could be achieved.
“I’m nothing if not an optimist and I will need all of that optimism. There is a sense that we can regain momentum and that is the crucial thing. If we are able to gain momentum then things become possible, people of peace can feel the force is with them and not with those who want conflict,” he said.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Luís Amado said that it was of “utmost urgency to get both the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate from a starting point proposal for the creation of two distinct states”.
Condoleezza Rice, arriving in Lisbon from Washington before heading out to Sharm-el-Sheik in Egypt to hold talks with Arab leaders before going on to Jerusalem and Ramallah,
 United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with Portuguese Foreign Minister Luís Amado |
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rejected dealing with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, “until it recognised Israel”.
“We have a very good partner in Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, I think, knows what is expected from them by the international community to gain respectability,” said Condoleezza Rice.
“The Palestinian people have waited long enough to have their state and the Israelis have waited long enough to have security. We have to recognise there have been changes in the Palestinian territories but Mahmoud Abbas is devoted to the vision of two states and bring about the conditions to allow the Palestinians to have a better life.”
Direct financial assistance, however, had to be ultimately bolstered to a commitment to a political future for the Palestinian state. “The people need to see that there is the concrete possibility of a Palestinian state and a homeland for the Palestinian people,” she added.
Although it is expected that former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, given his wealth of experience on the international stage, will provide new impetus to the peace process as Special Ambassador to the Middle East – Israel and Palestine – where he immediately went following the meeting, it was stressed that his main task would be one of reconstruction.
Fallen envoys
When pointed out that the Middle East was littered with the careers of fallen envoys that had tried and failed to solve the Palestinian problem, Tony Blair countered: “It is imperative we succeed. One only has to look at the seemingly intractable Northern Ireland issue when it once seemed unthinkable to see Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley cooperating together for peace – but that was what we achieved,” he said.
In June, the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the Gaza strip almost precipitating an all-out civil war among the Palestinians. The United States-backed, democratically elected Palestinian Authority government headed by Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas has retreated to the West Bank.
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