Blair, Bush Meet to Discuss Mideast Peace

WASHINGTON – Convinced that the road to Jerusalem doesn’t run through Baghdad, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is trying to turn President Bush’s attention from Iraq to the stalled Mideast peace process.

Blair, who dined with Bush on Thursday night and was holding formal talks with him on Friday, lost political ground at home for being Bush’s steadfast comrade in the U.S.-led war in Iraq that was unpopular in Europe. Now, Blair wants the newly re-elected Bush to push more aggressively for a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – an issue of keen interest to Europeans.

Their Oval Office meeting, on the same day as the funeral in Egypt of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also gives Bush a chance to show that he wants to reach out to Europe and NATO allies. Among the topic the two leaders were expected to discuss were trans-Atlantic relations, which were frayed by the invasion of Iraq; spreading democracy throughout the Middle East; Iran’s nuclear program; conflicts and poverty in Africa; and climate change.

But the long-simmering Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a top issue for Blair. Briefing reporters during the flight to Washington, Blair’s spokesman said the prime minister is expected to call on Bush to help shore up the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians need international help to improve security, bolster their economy and strengthen civil and political structures, he said.

Britain is concerned that Israel’s proposed withdrawal from Gaza will create a destabilizing power vacuum if the Palestinians are not ready to assume control.

“For the Gaza pullout to work, you have to have a Palestinian Authority that can deal with it,” Blair’s official spokesman said on customary condition of not being identified by name. “Unless you have a Palestinian Authority capable of dealing with the consequences of the Gaza pullout, then going beyond that is going to be difficult.”

Bush claims he’s never stopped working on the U.S.-backed plan for peace – the so-called road map, which calls for a new Palestinian state in 2005.

“The vision is two states, a Palestinian state and Israel, living side-by-side in peace. I think we’ve got a chance to do that,” the president said this week.

The issue has taken a back seat to Iraq. But two new developments have given the Bush administration new hope for progress: Israel’s decision to withdraw 8,200 settlers from Gaza and 600 from four West Bank settlements beginning next summer, and prospects for new Palestinian leadership now that Arafat is dead.

Bush had refused to work with Arafat, and the White House is hopeful that his successor can control violent groups and negotiate with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is loathe to start talks amid violence.

Blair is concerned about what happens in the post-Arafat era, said Julianne Smith, deputy director of the international security program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The worst-case scenario is that we just continue to have this muddle-through approach, focus strictly on Iraq and maintain the policy that the road to Jerusalem leads through Baghdad,” she said of foreign policy experts who believe that a democratic Iraq will foster peace throughout the Middle East.

“Blair wants to change that. He wants to say let’s go back the Middle East peace process in terms of combatting terrorism.”

James Phillips, a Mideast specialist at the Heritage Foundation, thinks Blair may be overly optimistic about what Arafat’s death means for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It may, however, help Blair appear as a “peacemaker” not a “war maker,” he said, especially as he becomes chairman of the G-8 group of industrialized nations and Britain gets ready to take over the European Union presidency later this year.

“I think Bush will feel some need to respond to a close ally, but Bush will refrain from being prematurely involved in peace talks,” Phillips said. “The situation is not ripe for a settlement.”

Two other key items on the discussion table:

-Iran. Blair wants Bush to allay European fears that the United States would take military action against Iran. The United States wants Iran dragged before the U.N. Security Council to face sanctions, claiming the Persian state is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran contends its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at generating energy.

-Climate change. Blair would like Bush to soften his rigid opposition to the Kyoto international climate treaty, which goes into effect early next year without U.S. participation. Expressing concern about U.S. jobs, Bush is holding fast to his rejection of the treaty, which requires industrial nations to reduce emissions of so-called greenhouse gases below 1990 levels.