Former British prime minister Tony Blair, now a Special Envoy to the Middle East, says the problem has become so intransigent that there is “no hope” for Palestinians unless they have an independent state, an idea now rejected by a once-receptive Israeli government, which exacerbated the idea of a peace in the region by allowing the continued building of Jewish settlements. Blair’s remarks after meeting Arab League head Amr Moussa came amid a fresh international push to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks, which were suspended in 2008. “For people in Jenin, Gaza, and everywhere in the occupied territories, there is no hope unless they have a state,” said Blair, who now represents The Middle East Quartet - an informal grouping of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia. The blockade of the Gaza Strip and disputes over the expansion of Israeli settlements would continue “unless we get direct negotiations which lead to an independent and viable Palestinians state,” he said. His statements came just as US Vice-President Joe Biden arrived to announce a new round of indirect, US-brokered “proximity” talks between Israelis and Palestinians, following Arab states’ approval of the talks. Blair’s remarks also followed Israel’s approval Monday of plans to construct 112 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, not far from Bethlehem. “Whatever doubts there are regarding the talks, there are no other options,” Blair said. “Whether the talks succeed or fail, we have to give them a chance.”

US checks in again
Obama’s special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell,  made the long-awaited formal announcement that the sides had agreed to hold indirect talks, despite Palestinian anger over an Israeli decision to give exceptional permission for the construction of the  new apartments in the Jewish settlement. “I’m pleased that the Israeli and Palestinian leadership have accepted indirect talks,” Mitchell said in a statement from Jerusalem.
He said he hoped the indirect negotiations would “lead to direct negotiations as soon as possible.” He added the “structure and scope” of the talks were still being discussed and he would return to the region next week to continue the discussions. The Palestinians want a four-month time frame to the talks and refused to enter into direct negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of the nationalist Likud party, demanding a freeze of all Israeli construction in both the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with no exceptions. Members of the Arab League, in giving the nod to indirect Israeli- Palestinian talks, backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ contention that there would be “no point” in resuming direct talks while Israeli construction continued in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Blair’s comments also came amid new efforts to resume indirect talks between Israel and Syria, one of main backers of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Damascus that his country was determined to restart indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria. “We will work hard to move from the indirect talks to the direct talks,” Davutoglu told reporters after meeting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital. Syria hosts senior members of Hamas’ political leadership in Damascus, and is widely seen as having influence over the group, which has predicted that indirect talks would prove “futile.”

Some movement
The Palestinian leadership agreement to resume talks was hoped to resume the long-stalled Middle East peace process which broke down 15 months ago. Executive committee Secretary General Yasser Abed Rabbo told reporters that the committee had decided to give a chance to the US proposal for the indirect talks, as a means of getting back to the negotiating table. The decision to go for the indirect negotiations, taken at a meeting Sunday of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, came just before Mitchell and Biden arrived.  The Israeli prime minister and US envoy held “good discussions” concerning the advance in the peace process, a statement released by the prime minister’s office after a two-hour meeting. Fayez Abu Eita, a spokesman for Abbas’ Fatah movement, the dominant party in the PLO, said the indirect talks would be limited by a four-month deadline and would deal with the issues of land, borders and security. If the US administration received an Israeli go-ahead for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders - those of the West Bank at the start of the 1967 Middle East war - then the sides could begin holding direct talks, he said. The Islamic Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, rejected the talks, saying they would “end the political isolation of Israel” and endanger Palestinian rights.