U.S. President Bush welcomes British Prime Minister Tony Blair to his central Texas ranch on Friday for urgent talks on the Middle East. The weekend talks had been expected to focus on plans for action against Iraq as part of an expanded war against terrorism.
But the agenda has shifted to keeping the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from spreading after Bush, in a dramatic policy change, called on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian areas and ordered Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region to revive cease-fire talks.
Bush consulted with Blair by telephone before announcing the measures. The move reflected growing fears that the violence, left unchecked, will spread and undercut support for Washington's anti-terrorism campaign.
Arab leaders have also made clear to Washington that there would be no support for tough action against Iraq while Middle East violence raged.
The violence will not stop without some kind of political framework, Blair said Thursday night in an interview with NBC television. "And that's precisely why I think, as I said, President Bush is right to try and gauge the parties with that process," he said. "We need them to get into what are agreed plans that have already been worked out so that we can eventually come into a proper political process and resolve this issue.
Blair will arrive on Friday at Bush's 1,600-acre ranch near Crawford. They will meet privately and with top aides. They will hold a news conference on Saturday. Blair is scheduled to leave on Sunday.
Few other details of Blair's stay have been made public as officials sought to keep the visit low key before the funeral of Britain's Queen Mother. (Reuters)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
