US resists pressure to expand Blair's Mideast mandate

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is resisting pressure from Europe to expand the mandate of new Middle East quartet envoy Tony Blair as it tries to preserve its control over the Israel-Palestinian dossier.

The thorny issue is expected to be at the center of a quartet ministerial meeting in Lisbon next Thursday, in which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will participate.

Other key participants include top European Union diplomat Javier Solana, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

British former prime minister Blair, who was named the quartet's special envoy following his departure from Downing Street on June 27, will also take part in the meeting.

"That will certainly be the first opportunity for the quartet envoys collectively to talk with him and talk a little bit about the role and mission he's going to be playing for them," US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Friday.

But the United States, which sees Blair's job as preparing the ground for the establishment of viable Palestinian institutions, is reluctant to define for him any political mission.

Last week, Washington was not willing to allow Blair to negotiate with Hamas, the Palestinian party the US brands a terrorist organization and which last month seized control of the Gaza Strip.

However, 10 European foreign ministers have recently urged the new quartet envoy to widen his mandate with the goal of unblocking the stalled Israel-Palestinian peace process.

In an open letter, drafted at the urging of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the 10 set for Blair several goals that go well beyond his official mandate.

They asked Blair "to offer hope to the people of the region" by the opening of "final status negotiations without preconditions" and creating a "robust international force" for Palestinian territories to enforce an eventual peace agreement.

They also called for "obtaining from Israel concrete and immediate measures in favor of Mahmud Abbas," such as the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and key leaders of the Fatah movement.

But Washington wasted no time emphasizing its own key role in the region.

"I think all in the region and around the world are really going to look to the United States and Secretary Rice for leadership on pushing forward the political tracks, whether that's between the Israelis and the Palestinians or between the Israelis and the Arabs," declared State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

A quartet meeting at the level of experts was held in London Tuesday in the presence of Blair, but its participants did not disclose what they discussed.

The Europeans are not alone in pushing Blair to expand his mandate: the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, urged him Friday to act as an honest broker.

To be useful, Blair must keep pace with political action, Mussa said.

And according to the London Guardian, the Palestinian minister in charge of peace negotiations, Saeb Erekat, wrote to the members of the quartet asking them that Blair "place equal emphasis on the fulfillment of Israeli obligations and responsibilities under the 'road map.'"

The long-stalled roadmap envisaged a three-phase effort focused first on ending Palestinian attacks on Israel and restricting Israeli activities inside the occupied territories and then moving on toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, a goal it hoped to achieve in 2005.

Blair was to be in Washington this weekend for personal reasons, said a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said no meeting between Blair and Rice has been planned.

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