BLAIR GOES SQUISHY

TONY BLAIR SEEMS TO HAVE DRUNK THE ARAB COOL AID. HE BELIEVES THAT THE SOURCE OF ALL THE INSTABILITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST IS ISRAEL AND THAT WE SHOULD WORK WITH IRAN TO PROVIDE STABILITY IN THE REGION.

Blair calls for new focus on Israeli-Palestinian conflict (CSM)
In a major policy speech Monday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for renewed effort on finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he called the "core" to a wider peace in the Middle East.

The Guardian reports that in the speech, which the paper called "an open plea" to US President George Bush to focus on the conflict, Mr. Blair said the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle is the key to pinning back "the forces trying to create mayhem inside Iraq."

Mr Blair, famously cautious about pressing the Republican administration in public, is trying to seize the rare indecision in Washington in response to the Democrat victories to persuade the White House to acknowledge the central importance of the Palestinian peace process.

He will repeat the message when he gives video evidence today to the Iraq Study Group in Washington, the bipartisan panel seen as the vehicle by which George Bush could rethink his Iraq strategy. Mr Blair is working towards a regional Middle East peace conference, but many of his advisers question whether Mr Bush has the political will to make a renewed effort on Palestine.

The BBC reports that Blair also challenged Iran and Syria to become part of the peace process in the Middle East. While he favors dialogue with these two countries, Blair said it could not come "at any price." He said Iran, in particular, was trying to use "pressure points in the region" - Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine - to stop international efforts to reign in Iran's nuclear program.

"We offer Iran a clear strategic choice. They help the Middle East peace process, not hinder it. They stop supporting terrorism in Lebanon or Iraq. They abide by, not flout, their international obligations. In that case, a new partnership is possible. Or alternatively, they face the consequence of not doing so - isolation."

The Independent reports that a spokesman for Blair's office denied that this was a "softening" of British policy, as the British government has always been open to the idea of dialogue with Iran and Syria. He added, however, that this was a "moment when people are rethinking policy, and the time to articulate a way forward."

Anne Penketh, a commentator for The Independent, writes that the Iranians and Syrians "must have been choking on their tea" last night, as they were invited to join in the creation of "the new Middle East." The new word in the Middle East, she writes, is "recalibration." Britain and the US need the help of these two nations because unless they can persuade them to help in Iraq, the insurgents there "can smell the defeat of a superpower."