Blair presses Palestinians to resume talks

The diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East hopes to clinch a deal for the Palestinians to get greater UN recognition while meeting US and Israeli objections and convincing Palestinians to resume peace talks, special envoy Tony Blair has said.
Blair told Al Jazeera's Abderrahim Foukara on Sunday that it was "the Palestinian right to come to the UN", but that "whatever happens at the UN, let's find a balanced way that we can restart the negotiations."
In a separate interview with ABC television, Blair explained: "What we will be looking for over the next few days is a way of putting together something that allows their claims and legitimate aspirations for statehood to be recognised, whilst actually renewing the only thing that's going to produce a state - which is a negotiation directly between the two sides.""You can pass whatever resolution you want or have any amount of recognition at the UN, unless you also have change on the ground that is negotiated - because this is the only way it will happen, you're going to end up in a situation where we end up again frustrated," he said.
The former British prime minister represents the Quartet, which is made up of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
While Russia has said that it supports the Palestinian bid, the US has threatened to veto it.
Twelve months ago, US President Barack Obama said he wanted to see a Palestinian state at the UN within a year.
Blair denied reports that the Quartet's position on the matter is in support of Israel.
"I'm not trying to bide time for anyone, what we've been doing for the past three years is supporting the Palestinian state building," he told Al Jazeera.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/09/20119193522435555.html