Blair in West Bank for Abbas talks

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair is in the West Bank town of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud…

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair is in the West Bank town of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Blair was met at the presidential compound, or Muqata, by Mr Abbas and a guard of honour.

The visit was the latest leg of the Prime Minister's Middle East visit which saw him have talks on Saturday night with Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert.

Mr Olmert told Mr Blair he would be willing to meet Mr Abbas for talks to try to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process after a summer of bloody conflict.

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"I assured Prime Minister Blair that I am ready to work closely with Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Abbas to implement the road map," Mr Olmert told a news conference side by side with Blair in Jerusalem.

Mr Blair said he believed it would be possible to make progress on the road map, which has been held up by the failure of both Israelis and Palestinians to meet commitments.

"It is very important that we see what we can do to reenergize this process," Mr Blair said. "It's very easy to be pessimistic, but I do believe that, with the right will, things can be done."

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The purpose of this visit was to hear the views from all sides so we came here to hear the views of the Palestinian President.

"He will bring with him the views he heard from Prime Minister Olmert (on Saturday) and look to hear Palestinian views and Palestinian concerns and try to see how we can get back to some sort of dialogue."

The spokesman said Mr Blair would also be waiting to hear Mr Abbas's response to the Israeli offer of talks.

Earlier, in Jerusalem, Mr Blair met relatives of the three kidnapped Israeli soldiers whose abduction sparked the recent violence.