Tony Blair open to French-proposed Mid East peace conference

Middle East Quartet envoy, Tony Blair, said Tuesday he was open to France’s proposal to host a Middle East peace conference by the end of next month, despite apparent reluctance on the part of the US and Israel.

Reuters / Stefan Wermuth

The former British prime minister said peacebrokers “should certainly examine” French

 Who is in the Middle East Quartet?

• the United Nations
• the United States
• the European Union
• Russia

Foreign Minister Alain Juppé’s suggestion that a donor conference in July should be transformed into an attempt to relaunch stalled Israel-Palestinian talks.

"What the French foreign minister has been saying is absolutely right in the sense that you need to put together not just the support for Palestinian statehood and institutions building, but some political momentum has to be injected back into this," he said on a visit to Oslo.

Juppé voiced the idea on a visit to Ramallah in the Palestinian Territories on 2 June but Israel and the United States were cool, with Washington deeming such a conference premature.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has told France he is ready to attend if Israel accepts talks based on the 1967 borders.