Blair confident of Mid-East deal

Middle East envoy Tony Blair is positive about the chances of peace

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has given his most optimistic assessment yet that a peace agreement in the Middle East is within reach.

Mr Blair told The Times newspaper that he was hopeful a deal "could definitely be done this year".

He was appointed Middle East envoy for the Quartet of major powers last June just hours after stepping down as PM.

"Resolving the Arab-Israeli issue would give an enormous boost to the forces of moderation," he said.

'Nothing more important'

"The Middle East is a region in transition...it can go to one of two places," he added.

"One is where the economy becomes the cutting edge of globalisation so the politics and culture and forces for moderation and modernisation win out."

There is nothing more important to world peace than resolving this question Tony Blair

"Alternatively," Mr Blair warned, "it becomes a region dominated by a particular and exclusive and wrong-headed view of Islam and a major threat.

"There is nothing more important to world peace than resolving this question."

Mr Blair has made regular trips to the Middle East since taking up his role as envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet group - comprising the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

He was positive about securing a deal despite criticisms that US President George Bush is widely seen as a lame duck president, with less than a year remaining in office.

"I am unworried," he told The Times. "Firstly, President Bush is immensely popular in Israel. Secondly, I did the Northern Ireland deal the month before I left. President Clinton came very close days before he left."

"The American engagement in this has altered significantly both in quality and quantity in the past two months", he said.

'Clever strategy'

Two months ago, the Bush administration hosted a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, where the goal of Palestinian statehood was set out.

Mr Bush followed up that initiative last month with a visit to Israel and the West Bank, which is run by the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas.

The group in control of the Gaza strip, Hamas, has been frozen out of peace talks, until it stops the firing of rockets into southern Israel.

Mr Blair said: "Hamas have a clever strategy, which is why I keep saying we need a clever strategy as well, which helps the people, isolates the extremists and... if at any point in time the rockets stop, the whole situation will be transformed."