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British Prime Minister Tony Blair shakes hands with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas following a press conference at Abbas's headquarters in Ramallah, Sunday. (AP)
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| By Associated Press September 10, 2006 |
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday the world should restore contacts with the Palestinians if the ruling Hamas group forms a government with more moderate factions. But Hamas immediately rejected his conditions for establishing dialogue with such a government -- that it renounce violence and recognize Israel.
Meanwhile, the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, speaking at a joint news conference with Blair, said he was prepared to meet unconditionally with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, possibly paving the way for the resumption of peace talks. Israel said it would work to bring about the meeting soon.
Israel and the West have been boycotting Hamas since it won legislative elections in January. They consider Abbas an acceptable channel for peace talks. Abbas, a moderate who leads the rival Fatah Party, thinks a coalition government would force Hamas to soften its anti-Israel ideology.
With his overture, Blair became the first Western leader to hold out the prospect of bringing a Hamas-led government into the international fold and ease international sanctions that have battered the Palestinian people.
Blair said the unity government would have to accept the requirements set by international Mideast peacemakers -- renouncing violence, recognizing Israel and accepting previous peace agreements with the Jewish state.
"If such a government is formed, I believe it is right that the international community deal with such a government," said Blair, who has refused to meet with members of the Hamas-led government on this trip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the group was ready to ready to form a government with Fatah, but "not according to standards that are dictated."
"I want to renew our rejection of these (Western) decisions because we consider them as biased, unjust and conditional decisions," Abu Zuhri said.
Abbas expressed commitment to a broad-based coalition.
"We are serious about putting together a national unity government to put an end to the siege imposed on us," he said, referring to the international sanctions.
Blair, embattled at home over a foreign policy that critics say is too closely aligned with Washington's, arrived in the region on Saturday, hoping to claim foreign policy gains.
He met with Olmert on Saturday, and earlier Sunday, an Israeli government spokeswoman said Blair was trying to arrange an unconditional meeting between Olmert and Abbas.
On Sunday, Abbas said he would meet with the Israeli leader without setting terms.
"We are ready for immediate negotiations to end the conflict," Abbas said at a joint news conference with Blair. "I am ready to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert without conditions."
The Israeli spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, said in response that "it's something that we can expedite."
Olmert began calling last week publicly for talks with Abbas after shelving plans for a large-scale, unilateral pullback from parts of the West Bank.
Territorial concessions, such as Israel's unilateral pullout from the Gaza Strip last summer, fell out of favor with many Israelis after the recent war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
Olmert and Abbas last met in June at an informal gathering in Jordan. Plans for a more substantive meeting fell apart after Palestinian militant linked to Hamas killed two Israeli soldiers and captured a third in a cross-border raid later that month.
Blair emphasized at a news conference with Olmert on Saturday that while peacemaking efforts were at a very preliminary stage, he was hopeful the two sides could make progress if they re-engage.
Last week, a group of Palestinian intellectuals said Blair should be barred from Palestinian territory because of his support for Israel during the fighting with Hezbollah.
In a column published Saturday in Britain's Guardian newspaper, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas accused Blair of favoring Israel on policies that hurt the Palestinians.
About a dozen protesters gathered in downtown Ramallah on Sunday, hoisting Palestinian flags and banners saying, "Blair is a man of war, not a man of peace," and "Tony, don't show your face here."
Blair's handling of the Lebanon conflict was a major cause of the fierce rebellion in his governing Labour Party that forced him to announce on Thursday that he would resign within a year. Many Labour loyalists saw his refusal to demand a quick cease-fire in Lebanon as a tacit backing of Israel's offensive.
In Ramallah, he dodged questions on his domestic woes, saying he wanted to concentrate on Mideast issues while in the region.
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