BLAIR STRONGLY BACKS ISRAEL

Blair Strongly Backs Israel - Carla Marinucci
British Prime Minister Tony Blair delivered a strong defense of Israel on Tuesday, warning the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles against the view that "looks at Israel and thinks we pay too great a price for supporting it." Such opinions lack "any understanding of the Israeli predicament," he said. "We must commit ourselves to a complete renaissance of our strategy to defeat those that threaten us," he said. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Blair defends cease-fire time frame (ABC-Australia)
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has again defended his decision not to call for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. In a BBC interview, he has said Hezbollah is primarily to blame for the conflict and has called for its removal from southern Lebanon and an end to its rocket attacks on Israel.

Mr Blair is urging Syria and Iran to bring pressure on Hezbollah or otherwise be confronted. "Confront them by making it clear that both for Syria and for Iran we are not going to welcome them into the international community," he said.

"We are going to step up our action against their surrogates like Hezbollah, unless they're prepared to recognise that people in Lebanon should be free to decide their government democratically and that government's - and that state's - proper army should have control of the whole of the territory."