Obama administration, quartet, are developing new Middle East Peace Plan

Last update - 10:55 06/05/2009       
Blair: New Mideast peace plan to be unveiled in 5-6 weeks
By The Associated Press

International envoy Tony Blair says the U.S.-led Quartet of Mideast mediators is expected to unveil a new strategy for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in five to six weeks.

 

Blair told Palestinian reporters Wednesday that the plan is being worked on at the highest levels of the Obama administration.

 

"We're about to get a new framework," Blair said Tuesday evening, adding that he did not know the details. "The reason I say people should be more hopeful, is that this is a framework that is being worked on at the highest level in the American administration, (and) in the rest of the international community."

 

The Obama administration has promised to work for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It has portrayed a two-state solution as the only way to solve the Mideast conflict and defined it as a U.S. national interest.

 

President Barack Obama is holding separate meetings at the White House this month with the Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders to hear their views.

 

Once those meetings are over, the Quartet is to convene in Washington to
discuss and present the new strategy, Blair said. The Quartet includes the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. "I think that within the next five to six weeks, you will have a very clear picture of what the plan is," Blair said.