British PM Tony Blair to visit Israel, Palestine

United Nations, Aug 12: British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he plans to visit the Middle East soon to search for ways to address the continuing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

He made the announcement in a statement welcoming the UN Security Council's unanimous approval of a resolution calling for an end to the hostilities between Israel and the Hizbollah in Lebanon.

''With this resolution now adopted, we must work to address the underlying root causes of this conflict,'' Blair said yesterday.

''In part, this will be about the ability of the democratically elected Lebanese Government to be in sole charge of the Lebanon. However, we must never lose sight of the fact that the conflict in Lebanon arose out of the desire to exploit the continuing impasse in Palestine,'' he said.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was of fundamental importance to both the region and the world, he said.

''It is my intention to visit the region, in particular Israel and Palestine over the coming period and to consult those there and of course members of the Quartet on the best way forward,'' he said.

The quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations has acted as a major-power mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict but its ''road map'' to peace and creation of an independent Palestinian state has never really gotten off the ground.

Reuters

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