Middle East Peace Agreement ‘Within the Year’

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20090618_middle_east_peace_agreement_within_the_year/

Posted on Jun 18, 2009

According to ex-British prime minister turned Middle East envoy Tony Blair, a Mideast peace deal is possible within the year.” Following President Obama’s speech in Cairo and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s response in which he finally agreed to the creation of a Palestinian state (under very tight conditions), Blair is confident that with continued discussions and proper mediation Israelis and Palestinians can come to an agreement.

AFP:

A Middle East peace deal is possible “within the year,” but only if all sides agree to peaceful negotiations, international envoy Tony Blair says in comments to be aired Friday.

The former British premier said there was a “great sense of hope and expectation” in the region after US President Barack Obama’s recent speech on relations between the West and the Islamic world.

“If President Obama gets the right partner, on the Israeli side but also on the Palestinian side, his determination to do this I have no doubt about at all,” he told interviewer David Frost.

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AP photo / Susan Walsh

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Capitol Hill in May, testifying at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Middle East peace.