Downing Street Says » Middle East

Asked why the Prime Minister was ‘flouncing’ around the Middle East instead on concentrating on domestic matters, the PMOS said that nothing was more important to the UK than its security. Security is achieved by a number of methods, one of which is to achieve political progress in the Middle East. There is a fundamental issue to be resolved in terms of the future of the Middle East which will impact directly on the overall security in the world, including in Britain. The Prime Minister therefore makes no apology in talking to those in the region who can most influence what the Prime Minister believes to be the most crucial issue in the world today; which is the future of the Middle East and of Israel and Palestine in particular. People in the UK understand that and understand that as in Northern Ireland if you want to achieve peace you have to go the extra mile and you have to go at it again and again and again; even when it seems difficult.

Asked if the Prime Minister had achieved what he had set out to achieve on this visit, the PMOS said that this was not a trip to come back with concrete ticks in boxes, this was a trip to listen, to find out how practically we may move things forward. We believe that in the proposals we discussed with President Abbas and with Prime Minister Olmert and which with now will discuss with our international partners, that we have made progress in terms of an understanding of what we think needs to be done. Now we need to move it to the next stage, you heard what Prime Minister Olmert said yesterday. There are others areas where we hope to see progress in the coming days and weeks. A trip such as this is not something where you sit down and get an instant fix, it is something that you look back on and say did it get momentum going in the right direction, did it come up with ideas, did it help develop ideas, in terms of this the trip was achieved this.

Asked if the Prime Minister had, found others to be engaged on the trip, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had found on the visit that there is a desire to engage and therefore there is a desire to try and resolve the Israel and Palestine issue. In all the recent trips there has been a recognition of the importance of the Palestine/Israeli issue but also a desire to try and get it resolved. This has been the case in Pakistan and elsewhere. President Bush stood beside the Prime Minister in the White House and wished him luck with this trip and fully endorsed it.

Asked if there had been any feedback from anyone behind the scenes or our international partners, the PMOS said he did not give a running commentary on our contact with our international partners but it can be taken that we are keeping and will keep our international partners fully informed.

Asked if the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had a view on what the Prime Minister was doing, the PMOS said that the UAE could speak for themselves, but in terms of trying to boost Palestinians to be able to show that political progress is possible and create the sort of institutions that will make this possible, then there is a desire to move forward. That is a recognition that the current stalemate suits nobody, and that is very much the view we have found on this trip.

Asked if the Prime Minister was frustrated that the message to come out of this trip is not getting across, the PMOS said no, it was quite the reverse.

Asked if any of the discussions had covered Al-Qaeda, as it is believed that a lot of activity came from the region, the PMOS said that he did not want to go into details of discussions but would say that counter terrorism is an important aspect of our relations with this part of the world. Asked why the PMOS would not go into details of discussions in the Middle East as he was meant to represent the Prime Minister, the PMOS said he could not talk on behalf of other governments involved in talks but there was a recognition of the issue. The issue being whether moderation perseveres or whether extremism triumphs. That is the essential issue, therefore we need to build on that and engage people here to achieve the ends they want to achieve and there is no doubt as to what it is that they want, it is a two state solution.

When asked about elections, the PMOS said that people have different roles and talk to different people in the whole scenario. What is important is that we share a common objective however we get there and that common objective is to try to get a two state solution as a reality. We are not and have not gone around with a piece of paper and said you have to agree to ever dot and comma. What we do have to agree on is what we are trying to achieve and we need to counter those who are trying to stop that objective. Asked what had changed with regard to Iraq and mobilising people, the PMOS said as they have travelled around the region, there has been a recognition that Iran is the strategic threat, there is recognition that we need to stand together against that threat and that we need to mobilise moderate countries against the threat. Asked if the moderate countries are worried that if they do mobilise the situation in Iraq would worsen, the PMOS said no, it had become increasingly clear that people want to help on Israel and Palestine but want to see mechanism that will allow them to do so. Hence the temperate institutional mechanism, hence the talks on other ways to help the Palestinians. Practical ways need to be found to engage moderate people and to do so against a backdrop where we are recognising that these moderate countries do have a role to play and have their own distinctive view, which may differ from ours, but the goal will be the same. It helps that people play different roles and it helps when different people talk to different people because that allows us to have a more effective wide-ranging approach.

Asked as the UAE was a model moderate state why the Prime Minister backed them if they passed laws which banned flights into the UAE from Israel, surely this was contradictory, the PMOS said that the UAE had made a commitment to modernisation and we are tentatively moving forward in certain areas. It was the travel of direction that mattered and the direction of the UAE was not in doubt.

1 Comment »

"Security is achieved by a number of methods, one of which is to achieve political progress in the Middle East."

You’re having a tin barf, intcha mate?! When was the last "political progress" in the MidEast? And is it really likely that Poodle Bliar, after his courageous stance over Lebanon, is going to carry enough respect even in his own street, never mind in the MidEast, to even secure an invitation for a pint, never mind any "political progress"?!

"In all the recent trips there has been a recognition of the importance of the Palestine/Israeli issue but also a desire to try and get it resolved."

REALLY??!! So there ARE actually people on this planet who recognise the importance of this issue, are there? Now I AM surprised, and I must thank the PMOS for pointing out what most of the thinking people of this planet thought was a total non-issue. You prick! Also notice how he says "This has been the case in Pakistan and elsewhere. " Elsewhere? Like where? Could you please specify? Or could it be that there is ZERO interest in anything Bliar and his puppetmaster Cheney have to say in the MidEast, outside of the puppet governments of Iraq and Saudi?

"Asked if the Prime Minister was frustrated that the message to come out of this trip is not getting across, the PMOS said no, it was quite the reverse."

Then the PM is obviously a gibbering idiot. Confirmation, at last…

"there has been a recognition that Iran is the strategic threat"

I beg to differ, you outright LIAR! How is Iran any kind of threat? Except to the Dollar, that is, after insisting on selling its oil in Euros? The CIA and the IEAE have been on the record to state that Iran is at least 10 years from being able to produce nuclear weapons – IF they were even trying. And there is zero proof of this. Absolutely none at all. Once again, it’s Iraqi WMD all over again, but in Iran. Bliar, you and your government and every last one of it’s lackeys, gophers and talking heads are liars of biblical proportions, and if every last one of you were stood up against a wall and shot so many times you’re whole bodies turned to lead, still justice would not have been served for the outrageous, egregious lies you have told and the death, destruction and misery they have led to, to serve your own and your masters purposes. I’m not a believer in a biblical vision of hell, but if it does exist I hope every last one of you fries in its fires for all eternity.
Comment by SmokeNMirrors — 1 Jan 2007 on 6:10 pm | Link

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.

» Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Middle East

1 Comment »

Post a public comment

Search

Supported by

Recent Briefings

Archives

Links

Syndicate (RSS/XML)

Credits

Enquiries