Middle East peace plan is top priority after war, says Blair

Tony Blair said yesterday that the Middle East peace process would be a "central priority" of British foreign policy once the war in Iraq was over.

The Prime Minister rejected scepticism about recent American and British initiatives on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said he was convinced of President George Bush's personal commitment to see through a "road-map" for peace.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Blair told MPs that the plight of the region would not be forgotten in the military action against Baghdad.

The so-called Quartet of the EU, Russia, US and the UN has drawn up the plan to create a Palestinian state within three years but its publication has been repeatedly delayed. America said the road-map would be published when Yasser Arafat named his new Prime Minister. Abu Mazen was appointed earlier this month but no plan was produced.

Under intense questioning from Labour MPs, Mr Blair insisted the proposals would be published as soon as Mr Mazen named his cabinet.

"I know there is a great deal of cynicism and scepticism within the Muslim and Arab world about whether statements made recently about the publication of the road-map, about the desire to take this process forward, are simply statements which will be made in the context of military action in Iraq then forgotten," he said.

"I can give my assurance that they will not be forgotten, they will be taken forward and they will be done. This will be a central priority of British foreign policy.

"From all the conversations I have had with the American President, he believes, like me, that this is a vital issue to resolve because it is probably more than anything else the issue which keeps the Arab and Muslim world on the one hand and the Western world on the other, apart. But I also think that people, whether they take any view on that issue, as a simple matter of justice, want to see a situation in which Israeli citizens are protected from the appalling ravages of terrorism and Palestinians are able to live in their own viable state and make a decent living for themselves." Mr Blair had been pressed by Oona King, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, to outline his support for the Palestinian question to be resolved once Saddam Hussein had been dealt with.

Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda, said: "Opinion polls in the UK suggest Britain is very respectful of your own position in terms of the Middle East peace process. But they are rather more uncertain and sceptical, if not cynical, about the US position."

Mr Blair replied: "I do believe ... that the commitment of the United States is there to making sure that the road-map is not merely published but then carried through."