Blair Sees "Possibility" In Mideast

Peace Envoy, Making The Rounds In Israel, West Bank, Says Opportunity Is Limited

(CBS/AP)  Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking for the first time in the Mideast as its peace envoy, urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders Tuesday to take advantage of a new "sense of possibility" in the region.

Blair, who arrived in Israel on Monday, said he had come "to listen, learn and reflect" during two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. But he said he already senses a willingness by the sides to make progress.

"I think there is a sense of possibility, but whether that sense of possibility can be translated into something, that is something that needs to be worked at and thought about over time," Blair said after meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.

He also heard a less optimistic view from Israel's opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel cannot count on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to fight terror, reports CBS News' David Jablinowitz.

In other developments:

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Tuesday that other Arab countries may join later in the contacts with the Jewish state. Aboul Gheit and Jordan's foreign minister Abdel Ilah al-Khatib are due in Israel Wednesday to discuss the "peace-for-land" plan relaunched by an Arab summit in Saudi Arabia in March. Egypt and Jordan were mandated for the mission by an Arab League committee last month because they are the only Arab nations that have diplomatic relations with Israel.

(Getty)

The Israeli army confirmed an air strike was the cause of a blast in downtown Gaza City Tuesday. Palestinian officials said no one was hurt, and at first said the building had been hit by mistake. But Israel says the building was the target, although the military hasn't said why it was hit. Witnesses say the bomb struck an unfinished apartment in the three-story building, leaving a large hole in the roof.

Palestinian security forces trying to break up a mass brawl between Hamas and Fatah supporters opened fire on a university campus Tuesday, wounding three students in the biggest clash between the rival groups in the West Bank since the fall of Gaza to Hamas last month. The clash erupted at An Najah University, the West Bank's largest, in the city of Nablus. Thousands of students were on campus at the time. One of the students was shot in the head and was in critical condition, doctors said.

Israel police Tuesday permitted a limited number of Jewish worshippers to ascend Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the site of the two ancient Jewish temples that according to Jewish tradition were both destroyed on this day, in 586 B.C. and 70 A.D. It's Judaism's holiest shrine, but it's also holy to Muslims, and therefore, reports Jablinowitz, it's considered the powder keg of the Middle East. A group called the Temple Mount faithful prayed nearby, complaining that not more Jews were permitted to enter the Mount

Blair is the new envoy for the "Quartet" of Mideast mediators — the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia. He is charged with laying the foundations for a future independent Palestinian state. Blair's first test will be the success of a Mideast peace summit, expected in the autumn, announced by President Bush last week.

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© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Add a Comment

by lars008-2009 July 25, 2007 4:04 PM EDT

please support our troops

demonic-rats won't fight the fascist nazi terrorislamic war...

Incredible! George S Patton's New Speech-Iraq & modern world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyUX6wV1lBQ

Reply to this comment

by grazinggoat July 24, 2007 11:01 PM EDT

He also heard a less optimistic view from Israel's opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel cannot count on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to fight terror,

-Can we say that Benjamin Netanyahu is in the same position of hawkish right wing of the Israeli people as is Hamas Leader to the Palestinians? Then why is Tony Blair not listening to Ishmael Haniyeh? The latest has been elected in february 2006 by the Palestinian People for whom Blair is working to find a solution of a homeland... or isn't he?
If not then what for is the leashed poodle in the Middle-East?

Reply to this comment

by rharrin1 July 24, 2007 9:34 PM EDT

Al Qaeda in Iraq is run by foreign leaders loyal to Osama bin Laden," Mr. Bush said. "Like bin Laden, they are cold-blooded killers who murder the innocent to achieve al Qaeda's objectives."

My question is if bush knew and knows this WHY did he stop pursuing Bin Laden?
Why did he say Bin Laden didn't concern him?

IS THIS THE CORRECT WAY TO PROTECT AMERICA???????

Reply to this comment

by lars008-2009 July 24, 2007 6:50 PM EDT

IT IS TIME TO DEFEAT FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM ONCE AND FOR ALL%u2026

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. ambassador to France, and John Adams, then American Ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Dey%u2019s ambassador to Britain, in an attempt to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress%u2019 vote of funding. To Congress, these two future presidents later reported the reasons for the Muslims%u2019 hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.

%u2026that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.

Sound familiar?

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison defeated the fascist nazi muslims 200 years ago
And again 100 years ago with Theodore Roosevelt
Tunisia in 1881 by France and Libya in 1911 by Italy. By then most of the Islamic world was under Christian domination. With the Ottoman Empire defeated in WW1, secularist Turkish rebels in 1923 overthrew the last Islamic Caliphate,
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6bdec278-6a71-4436-bc4d-29d1c54b0ad7

Reply to this comment

by dangeroushen July 24, 2007 5:25 PM EDT

I never voted for Tony Blair, I didn't care much for his policies. However, I wish him luck in his new post, he's going to need it.

Reply to this comment

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[lars008-2009]

please support our troops

demonic-rats won't fight the fascist nazi terrorislamic war...

Incredible! George S Patton's New Speech-Iraq & modern world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyUX6wV1lBQ

[grazinggoat]

He also heard a less optimistic view from Israel's opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Israel cannot count on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to fight terror,

-Can we say that Benjamin Netanyahu is in the same position of hawkish right wing of the Israeli people as is Hamas Leader to the Palestinians? Then why is Tony Blair not listening to Ishmael Haniyeh? The latest has been elected in february 2006 by the Palestinian People for whom Blair is working to find a solution of a homeland... or isn't he?
If not then what for is the leashed poodle in the Middle-East?

[rharrin1]

Al Qaeda in Iraq is run by foreign leaders loyal to Osama bin Laden," Mr. Bush said. "Like bin Laden, they are cold-blooded killers who murder the innocent to achieve al Qaeda's objectives."

My question is if bush knew and knows this WHY did he stop pursuing Bin Laden?
Why did he say Bin Laden didn't concern him?

IS THIS THE CORRECT WAY TO PROTECT AMERICA???????

[lars008-2009]

IT IS TIME TO DEFEAT FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM ONCE AND FOR ALL%u2026

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. ambassador to France, and John Adams, then American Ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Dey%u2019s ambassador to Britain, in an attempt to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress%u2019 vote of funding. To Congress, these two future presidents later reported the reasons for the Muslims%u2019 hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.

%u2026that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.

Sound familiar?

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison defeated the fascist nazi muslims 200 years ago
And again 100 years ago with Theodore Roosevelt
Tunisia in 1881 by France and Libya in 1911 by Italy. By then most of the Islamic world was under Christian domination. With the Ottoman Empire defeated in WW1, secularist Turkish rebels in 1923 overthrew the last Islamic Caliphate,
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6bdec278-6a71-4436-bc4d-29d1c54b0ad7

[dangeroushen]

I never voted for Tony Blair, I didn't care much for his policies. However, I wish him luck in his new post, he's going to need it.