Optimism for Middle East Peace

By Courtney Ann Jackson- Talk Radio News Service

Today former British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed to members of Congress his support of a two state
peace solution between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Speaking to the U.S. Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations, Blair said that he looks at the Middle East with the eyes of an optimist.

Significant arguments over territory, refugees, security and water in the region, Blair said, “although immensely challenging, are resolvable.”

He said that if the possibility of a two state solution became a reality, a majority of Palestinian and Israeli citizens would support it.

Blair currently serves as Quartet Representative and was in Washinton to promote the Quartet objectives. He is responsible for revitalizing the Palestinian economy and promoting the Quartet objectives. In his written statement to the Committee, Blair said "The opportunity is there. But it won't remain if not seized. As President Obama has recognized, this is the right time to seize it."

Committee member Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) said that “a peace settlement would require Israeli and Palestinian leaders with thin majorities to get beyond calculations designed to protect their own political interests.” Lugar also said the United States would have to be “very active and very creative” as they aided in the progress toward a settlement.

Blair said that leaders need to make sincere efforts to "reinvigorate the credibility" of a peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority need to “The only unity that works is a unity of genuine agreement,” he said.