Blair Sees 'Sense of Possibility'

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, and Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu meet in Jerusalem, Tuesday, July 24, 2007. Blair opened his mission on behalf of the "Quartet" of Mideast mediators on Monday to help Palestinians build solid foundations for their future state, offering ideas to Israeli leaders designed to stabilize the shaky government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (AP Photo/Lior Mizrahi, Pool) (Lior Mizrahi - AP)

But Palestinian leaders told Blair that politics cannot easily be separated from economics, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. President Mahmoud Abbas and his pro-Western prime minister, Salam Fayyad, urged Blair to push a political agenda that would help restart direct talks with Israel on the core issues.

"What will make the requirement for peace at the end of the day will be the bilateral Israeli-Palestinian tracks," said Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator.

On Wednesday, the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers arrive in Israel to formally present an Arab plan revived at an Arab summit in Saudi Arabia in March, which envisions full recognition of Israel in return for evacuation of lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

"All encouraging elements are available if the Israeli side wishes to go ahead with the resumption of the peace process," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in Cairo.

Olmert has said the Arab plan is a good basis for discussions, although Israel objects to several key provisions.

Blair's motorcade drove along the separation barrier that Israel has constructed through much of the West Bank, traveling from the Mount of Olives about two miles to the Abu Dis neighborhood that straddles Jerusalem and the West Bank. Along the way he passed graffiti scrawled in large letters on the barrier's high stone slabs, "No good will come of this evil wall."

Israel says the barrier, about two-thirds complete along its planned 425-mile route, is meant to stop suicide bombers, but the Palestinians call it a land grab. The U.N.'s International Court of Justice in The Hague has declared the structure illegal.

Palestinian business leaders told Blair that Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank have stifled the economy.

They also discussed economic matters in Gaza, which Hamas violently took over last month, prompting Abbas to install his pro-Western West Bank government.

"Blair recognizes and understands that Gaza can't be separated. He understands that the Gaza economy is important and vital for our economy, the West Bank economy," said businessman Samir Huleileh. "Reform and economy can't be tackled without Gaza being an integral component."

As he visited Ramallah, riots erupted at the An Najah University in Nablus, about 30 miles away.

A Palestinian student was shot and seriously wounded during a brawl among some 15,000 supporters of Abbas' Fatah and the rival Hamas movement. The melee injured at least three other people, the worst West Bank clash between the groups since Gaza fell violently to Hamas last month.

Thousands of Hamas supporters marched Tuesday night in Gaza, protesting the Nablus incident and condemning Abbas and Fatah.

No one was injured in the Israeli air raid in Gaza that hit a three-story building's top floor. The military refused to comment on the airstrike's target.