Is Tony Blair being upgraded or downgraded in role as Quartet Middle East representative?

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Washington today that: “I spoke today with Quartet Representative Blair to discuss developments in the Middle East. This Administration has, from the beginning, worked to bring about comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On that issue our [...]

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The US + EU = more than half the Quartet

Food for thought: Today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, in her remarks to the press after her meeting at the State Department in Washington D.C. with the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton, that: “Together, we have a population of 800 million, a $27 trillion economy, a zone of peace, [...]

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New EU High Representative for Foreign Policy questions worth of Quartet

Akiva Eldar has reported in Haaretz that the new European Union High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Affairs, Baroness Catherine Ashton of Upholland (who has replaced Javier Solana), said in an address to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that “she had spoken with Israelis, Palestinians and the U.S. Secretary of State about [...]

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Chris Patten: EU and its members have paid €1bn in 2009 to maintain Israeli occupation

The Financial Times has published, today, an OpEd piece by Chris Patten [co-chair of the International Crisis Group and a former European commissioner for external affairs] on last week’s statement of policy on Palestine and Israel:
“It was not quite as good as it should have been. Acting seemingly on instruction from Israel’s foreign ministry, Italy, [...]

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Wataniya makes surprise decision to launch today

After huffing and puffing to blow the house down (well, to sue the Palestinian Authority, for Israel’s refusal to release sufficient telecommunications wavelengths), the Qatari and Kuwaiti-owned Wataniya mobile phone company made the surprise announcement that it had launched its service in Palestine today, just two weeks after the planned date — and despite Israel’s [...]

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Mitchell to be in Israel and Palestinian Authority area on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – Palestinians preparing for UN General Assembly annual high-level session

It was announced that President Obama’s Special Envoy George Mitchell (who has also been claimed as Special Envoy for U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, is travelling  back to the Middle East on Friday.
That means he should be here by Saturday.
But, according to the U.S. State Department spokesperson Philip J. Crowley, Mitchell will be “in [...]

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Quartet statement – the current situation in Gaza is unsustainable and in nobody’s interest

On the sidelines of a meeting of the G-8 countries in Trieste, Italy, the Middle East Quartet (United Nations, European Union, Russian Federation, and the United States) — joined by Quartet Representative Tony Blair — met to review the situation in the region, and issued a statement on Friday that reflected the somewhat tougher tone [...]

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Former top officials urge Obama to contact Hamas

Former U.S. National Security Advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, and former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, are among the ten authors of a newly-revealed letter handed to Barack Obama just before his inauguration, urging the new president-elect to change policy and make contact with Hamas.
This was revealed today in a story published by the [...]

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European States criticize threatened Israeli house demolitions in Silwan

Is the Quartet coming apart?
One of the Quartet’s four members — the European Union — is keeping up a sustained post-Gaza-war resistance to Israeli policies in East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Israeli threats in recent weeks to demolish over a hundred Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem (88 in Silwan, 55 in Shua’fat refugee camp, [...]

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Annapolis process did not work, says UN Special Middle East Coordinator

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, told the UN Security Council today that “the inconclusive results of last year’s Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and unmet Road Map obligations, especially regarding settlements” are realities that must be faced — and “squarely addressed”.
Of course, the Serry statement was balanced. Carefully balanced.
But there [...]

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