Give Blair Wider Responsibilty, Say Palestinians

Palestinian negotiators have called for Tony Blair to be given a broader role as the international community's Middle East envoy, overseeing both Israeli and Palestinian obligations.

A letter containing the request was delivered to representatives of the Quartet of world powers - the US, UN, EU and Russia - which held its first meeting with Mr Blair in his new job, yesterday in London.

The former prime minister's formal job description focuses on his role in rebuilding the Palestinian Authority, crippled by the bloody division between Fatah and Hamas. But the Palestinian letter, addressed to Condoleezza Rice and her Quartet colleagues, and obtained by The Guardian, demands that he also police Israeli commitments under the stalled peace process, such as freezing settlements on the World Bank, and removing checkpoints.

There were reports from Jerusalem today that Mr Blair was also seeking to broaden his job description. Sources in his office and in the Quartet denied those reports.

They said there was no disagreement at yesterday's meetings with Quartet officials and with the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, but they expected Mr Blair to take the widest possible interpretation of his mandate, and to play a leading political role in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"He is not bothered much with the small print. He said we need a political strategy and a two-state solution and he sees the mandate he's got as a vehicle for doing that," a Quartet source said.

Mr Blair's job description includes the task of liaising with "other countries as appropriate in support of the agreed Quartet objectives", and that is generally seen as a wide loophole, through which he could justify a broad mediating role.

Officials involved in the early talks over Mr Blair's mission say there is still no agreement on his staff and funding. His chief of staff, Nick Banner, who worked at both the Foreign Office and in Downing Street, is due in Brussels in the next few days to talk about finance with EU officials, as Europe is expected to provide much of the Blair mission's funds.

The letter was written by Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator. In it, he assured the Quartet heads of Palestinian support for Mr Blair but requested that, "he place equal emphasis on the fulfillment of Israeli obligations and responsibilities under the Road Map ... in parallel with those of the Palestinians."

Mr Erekat continued that the Palestinians expected to see "a full and genuine freeze in settlement construction, including and end to wall construction" in order to ensure the credibility of Mr Blair's mission.

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, is described as being supportive after the FO reacted frostily to news of Mr Blair's bid for the job, having been told about it only when discussions with the US were in their final stages.

Mr Blair's staff are being recruited from the European Commission, the US and Norway. The main role of the dozen-strong team will be to coordinate between the different organizations and donors dealing with the Palestinians.