Blair close to clinching ME envoy post

JERUSALEM: Major Western powers agreed on Wednesday on the mandate for a new Middle East envoy and are expected to name Tony Blair to the position after he steps down as British prime minister.

Blair spoke by telephone to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government had held up his appointment within the Quartet of Middle East mediators.

"The Quartet has concluded the elaboration of a mandate for the new representative," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in the West Bank city of Ramallah when asked if Moscow would support Blair.

"I understand that the decision is about to be announced."

Quartet partners the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations intend to ask Blair to work with Abbas on building up institutions needed for a future state, diplomats said.

Asked what his priority would be if he took on the role, Blair told parliament: "The absolute priority is to try to give effect to what is now the consensus across the international community -- that the only way of bringing stability and peace to the Middle East is a two-state solution."

That meant a secure Israel and a Palestinian state "that is not merely viable in terms of its territory but in terms of its institutions and governance," he said.

"I believe it is possible to do that but it will require a huge intensity of focus and work."

Washington's goal is to relaunch statehood talks with Abbas in the occupied West Bank despite Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Israel has resisted US pressure to negotiate so-called final status issues: the fate of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and borders.

Blair's appointment was delayed on Tuesday when Russia balked at giving a green light to the appointment during a meeting of Quartet representatives in Jerusalem. Diplomats said the Russian representative did not raise specific objections to Blair but requested time to consult with Moscow.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said Blair told him five days ago that he would accept the envoy job.

Blair only candidate

US officials said on Tuesday that Quartet consultations were in their final stages and that an announcement was likely to come on Wednesday. The EU's Middle East envoy, Marc Otte, said Blair was the only candidate for the envoy post.

Relations between London and Moscow have been sour over Britain''s probe of a murder in London of a former Soviet agent.

Lavrov suggested in a speech in Israel on Tuesday that Moscow was resisting the U.S. and Israeli strategy of isolating Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist group seized by force two weeks ago after routing Abbas's Fatah forces.    Washington wants to bolster the emergency government that Abbas formed in the occupied West Bank after he sacked a Hamas-led cabinet.

Lavrov criticised what he called a "divide and conquer" policy that has resulted in Hamas control of Gaza and Fatah dominance in the West Bank.

According to Ahern, Blair told him last Friday that he would take a similar approach to the Middle East conflict as he took to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Blair worked closely with Ahern over the last decade to secure a 1998 peace deal in Northern Ireland and to broker this year''s power-sharing administration there.

Some Quartet diplomats have raised questions about Blair''s ability to garner broad Palestinian and Arab public support because of his leading role in the Iraq war and his close relationship with U.S. President George W Bush.

Hamas rejected Blair as biased.

"We do not expect Blair's role to be fair in any issue relating to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or any other Arab-related cause," said Hamas official Ghazi Hamad.