WEST BANK: Middle East envoy Tony Blair meets Palestinian leaders ahead of November's key Mideast conference

Record ID: 561158

  • Title: WEST BANK: Middle East envoy Tony Blair meets Palestinian leaders ahead of November's key Mideast conference
  • Date: 9th October 2007
  • Summary: BLAIR SITTING WITH PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS BLAIR AND ABBAS ABBAS SEATED DURING MEETING BLAIR SEATED DURING MEETING BLAIR AND ABBAS SHAKING HANDS WIDE OF ROOM DURING MEETING
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7USQPTPX3WTI367PLHBSYZZPK
  • Story Text: Middle East envoy Tony Blair meets Palestinian leaders as region prepares for November's U.S.-sponsored statehood conference.
    Middle East envoy Tony Blair arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday (October 9) to hold meetings with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad.
    This is Blair's third visit to the region in his capacity as the Middle East peace envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators.
    Blair is expected to discuss the joint declaration or statement to be read and agreed upon by Israel and the Palestinians in a a U.S.-sponsored conference scheduled for November.
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday (October 8) he was determined to advance the peace process with the Palestinians but that an accord was a long way off despite U.S. plans for a conference on statehood next month.
    Olmert has sought to lower expectations for the conference to deflect pressure from right-wing coalition partners in his government who are opposed to dividing Jerusalem and taking other sweeping steps as part of any deal with Abbas.
    Olmert and Abbas agreed last week that the joint document would be the basis for formal statehood negotiations that would begin after the conference expected to take place in mid-to-late November.
    Abbas aides said those final-status negotiations, over the borders of a future Palestinian state and the fate of Jerusalem and millions of Palestinian refugees, should be completed within six months -- a timeline Israel has refused to commit to.
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