Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that he is determined to broker peace in the Middle East and expressed optimism for his new job.
"There is no more important issue (than the Middle East issue) for peace and security in the world. It is imperative that we succeed and I am prepared to try to help in whatever way I can," Blair told a press conference after meeting with leaders of the Middle East Quartet.
He was appointed the Quartet's special envoy last month upon his resignation from the British premiership.
Asked why he thought he could succeed while other Middle East envoys had failed, Blair said: "I'm nothing if not an optimist and I will probably have need of all that quality of optimism in this task ahead. But I'm determined to try because I think it's important, because I'm passionate about it, I believe in it."
He emphasized the need for a clear political perspective of a two-state solution and actual work to prepare Palestinians for statehood.
"There will be no solution that does not accept the reality that Israel has to be confident of its own security and the other reality is that the Palestinians aren't going to go away. They want their own state and we have to help them prepare for that."
He said the two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine live side-by-side in peace is worth striving for.
Blair will travel to the Middle East for the first time next week as the Quartet envoy. He is expected to present his strategy at the next Quartet meeting in September.
The Quartet meeting, which brings together U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, urged all parties in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to work with Blair and encouraged international support for his efforts.
Source: Xinhua
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