Rice says shes in charge of Middle East peace, not Blair

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has categorically said that she is in charge of brokering peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, and not the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

London, July 20 : U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has categorically said that she is in charge of brokering peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, and not the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

It what appears to be a political embarrassment of sorts for Blair, Rice told reporters on the sidelines of a Mid-East Quartet meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, that Blair should stick to his narrow remit of mending the Palestinian economy and political system, a role merely complementary to her job as the leading peacemaker to the region.

According to The Daily Mail, Blair has been angling for a more prominent role from the Quartet, the peacemaking body of the U.S., UN, EU and Russia.

Tony Blair, as the special envoy of the Quartet, told a press conference after the meeting that on the day he left the office as British Prime Minister on June 27, he had pledged to broker a Northern Ireland-style peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

This contrasted with his predecessor, former World Bank president James Wolfensohn, who dealt solely with Palestinian economic reform.

Blair's first day in the job, however, saw Dr Rice insisting that the U.S. would keep leading Middle East peace efforts, with Blair playing a 'completely complementary' role.

Rice later told Sky News that Blair would bring 'an energy' to improving the lives of Palestinians, describing him as an 'experienced, capable, historic figure'.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said he had no doubt that Blair would make a difference.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Michael Moore said the fact that Dr Rice was playing down Blair's role 'indicates that the Quartet is in a mess and the Palestinians and others are correct in being sceptical about it'.

Blair will make his first visit to the Middle East in his new role next week.

The job is unpaid - although it comes with office expenses of around 100,000 pounds - meaning Blair has been forced to look elsewhere for a way of funding his post-Downing Street career.

He plans to bolster his earnings on the lecture circuit, and last week he was the star guest at a media and technology conference in Idaho.

ANI