Blair visits the Palestinian territories
Palestine-UK, Politics, 12/23/2004

The British prime minister Tony Blair continued his tour in the Palestinian territories after his meeting with the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Blair visited, accompanied by the chairman of the PLO executive committee Mahmoud Abbas, the tomb of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramullah and bowed his head in respect but did not put a wreath on the tomb nor sign on the book of condolences in a gesture which reflects the care of Britain not to anger the Israeli government.

The British prime minister had announced from Jerusalem after his meeting with his Israeli counterpart that his country will host an international conference dealing with economic, political and security reforms in the Palestinian Authority in 2005. News reports said that the conference will be held by the beginning of March 2005.

Blair considered in the conference he had held together with Sharon that the conference will help the Palestinians to be a genuine partner in the negotiations for peace but he stressed that this will not be a substitute for the Roadmap for peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, stressing the need that the Palestinian should stop what he called terrorism.

On the other hand, Sharon said that he is committed to the Roadmap, demanding "full suspension of terrorism" as a precondition to implement this plan, alleging that the Palestinian Authority had taken no steps to halt it and did not implement the obligations set to it in the Roadmap, drawn by the USA, the European Union, Russia and the UN.

Concerning the London conference, the Israeli prime minister stressed he will not be attending, and justified that to that the conference discusses internal Palestinian reforms and offering aids to the Palestinian authority. Causes which do not need getting Israel involved, as he alleged.

Previous Stories:
  Straw condemns Israeli violence in Gaza   (10/5/2004)
  British MP deplores Israeli practices against the Palestinians   (6/23/2004)
  Blair to offer a new Middle East peace initiative next week   (6/21/2004)

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