UK PM Blair tours W Asia to push peace process

Ankara, Dec 16: British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today that Palestinians need to find a way to form a fully functioning government with which the rest of the world can deal.

Blair began a Weste Asia trip by holding talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan yesterday seeking ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

Blair, who would like to see the peace process revived before he resigns next year, hopes to generate momentum among Muslim countries to help get the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

''The most important thing is that on the Palestinian side one way or another we have a fully functioning authority with which the rest of us can deal, support, give financial help to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians,'' Blair told a news conference with Erdogan.

''This is what I hope we will be able to agree during the course of this visit. I know developments are going to be happening on the Palestinian side to that end in the next few days,'' he said before departing for W Asia.

But the call for solidarity comes amid expectations that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas may threaten today to call early elections after violence between his Fatah group and the ruling Islamist Hamas movement stirred fears of civil war.

After talks in Ankara, Blair will travel to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the Palestinian territories hoping to build momentum among Muslim states to help push the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

Blair said Muslim Turkey could help the process by using its contacts in the region.

He sees Turkey as a moderate Muslim ally and has stressed support for its bid to join the European Union after the bloc decided this week to partially freeze accession talks because of Ankara's refusal to normalise trade with EU member Cyprus.

Internal Palestinian tensions are at their worst in a decade after months of futile talks between Hamas and Fatah on forming a unity government, dashing Palestinian hopes that a new unity government would bring an end to crippling Western sanctions.

Abbas's forces wounded 32 Hamas supporters in Ramallah yesterday when they fired on protesters. Gunbattles between the factions also erupted in Gaza.

''What it indicates is why it is so important that we try and make progress every time we see a deteriorating situation on the Palestinian side,'' Blair said.

Reuters