Blair unveils huge jobs plan to bolster Middle East peace talks

[T_i_B]

Source: Guardian

Tony Blair will announce an array of new economic projects today aimed at generating jobs for tens of thousands of Palestinians, revitalising the occupied territories and creating momentum for the peace talks due to start next Monday.

In his first major initiative since becoming the international community's Middle East envoy in June, Blair will outline plans including industrial parks and agricultural ventures in the West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza. The announcement will be made jointly with the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, and the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, in what is hoped will be a new spirit of cooperation.

The aim is to improve the atmosphere in the run-up to the talks in Annapolis, on the US east coast, the first major Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations for seven years. Blair said that the projects would ultimately employ tens of thousands of Palestinians and were "also designed to give some sense things could change on the ground".

The projects are expected to include a trade park in the West Bank town of Jericho linked to the Jordanian border by a trade corridor, potentially bypassing Israeli checkpoints which make doing business in the occupied territories close to impossible. A new sewerage system in Gaza is also planned, although it is unclear how it would be built without the cooperation of the Islamic militant group Hamas, which staged a military takeover in June.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2213166,00.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. This would be a great idea if it happened...

but after 10 years of him, I wouldn't trust darling Tony to do anything properly.