UK's Beckett lands in Mideast seeking signs of hope
Source: Reuters
(Updates dateline, Beckett arrival, adds quotes, background) By Sophie Walker JERUSALEM, Feb 5 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett arrived in the Middle East on Monday to gauge the prospects for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, saying she was optimistic despite persistent factional warfare. Leaders from rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah will hold talks in Mecca on Tuesday which aim to break deadlocked negotiations on a unity government and end violence which has killed more than 80 Palestinians since December. Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues to battle Palestinian gunmen in the occupied West Bank. Beckett is hoping for positive signals for international peace brokers and Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has said he will visit the region again soon and hopes for progress there before he resigns later this year. "I am very much focused on what the practical steps are that can be taken to help move forward and whether there is more that we, the UK and European Union could be doing," Beckett said. "It's always a difficult time...but the underlying reality that it is to the benefit of all that there should be peace is recognised -- however unwillingly -- by all the major players." The so-called quartet of Middle East peace negotiators -- the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia -- drew up a "road map" in 2003 for steps by Israel and the Palestinians leading to two states living side by side. But there was little progress towards the targets and last year the Islamic militant group Hamas defeated the once-dominant Fatah in Palestinian elections. Hamas, which refuses to renounce violence, recognise Israel and previous agreements including the roadmap, has struggled to govern under heavy Western sanctions. On Friday the quartet met in Washington and backed a fresh U.S. push to revive Israeli-Palestinian talks, but disagreed over the U.S. policy of isolating Hamas. Beckett is expected to talk to key figures in government on both sides during her visit, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. She will be pushing hard for the roadmap's "two-state solution" but will not break from the current policy of boycotting Hamas. "To govern one has to shoulder responsibilities and while they are not prepared to shoulder the responsibilities that come with government the international community will take the view that they cannot deal directly with Hamas," Beckett said. Blair's unswerving support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and his government's reluctance to call for an early halt to last year's war in Lebanon has weakened its influence in the region, say some analysts. "Britain may be in a position to help (in the Middle East), but Tony Blair is not. He does not have the credibility in the region to be an honest broker," said Nadim Shehadi, a Middle East expert at British foreign affairs think-tank Chatham House.
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