Blair set to announce major Middle East economic projects - report

Nov 19, 2007, 8:09 GMT

London - Special Middle East envoy Tony Blair was Monday reported to be set to unveil a series of new economic projects aimed at generating jobs for tens of thousands of Palestinians, in an effort to boost US-sponsored peace talks due next week.

The Guardian newspaper in London reported that, in his first major initiative since taking over the job of special envoy of the Middle East Quartet in June, former British prime minister Blair would outline his multi-million-dollar plans, which include the creation of industrial parks and agricultural ventures in the West Bank and Gaza.

The announcement would be made jointly with the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, and the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, in what was hoped would be a new spirit of cooperation, the Guardian said in its report from Jerusalem.

The aim was to improve the atmosphere in the run-up to the talks in Annapolis, in the US state of Maryland, the first major Israeli- Palestinian peace negotiations for seven years, due next week.

Blair said that the projects would ultimately employ tens of thousands of Palestinians and were 'also designed to give some sense things could change on the ground,' the Guardian said.

They are expected to include a trade park in the West Bank town of Jericho, linked to the Jordanian border by a trade corridor, and potentially bypassing Israeli checkpoints which make doing business in the occupied territories close to impossible.

A new sewerage system in Gaza is also planned, although it is unclear how it would be built without the cooperation of the Islamic militant group Hamas, which took over power in June.

'This is the part of the Blair mandate to find 'quick-impact projects' and he wanted something out before Annapolis,' a British official said.

'Some of them were existing projects that hadn't been able to get off the ground before because of Israeli objections or funding issues.'

The Quartet consists of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.