The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, London

The international community's envoy on the Middle East peace process Tony Blair on Sunday urged US president-elect Barack Obama to make peace between Jews and Palestinians a priority.

The former prime minister said negotiations on a peace deal required the "energy, commitment and dedication" of the new president. Speaking to BBC radio after a meeting of the Middle East Quartet in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Blair said: "There is a foundation on which a new American administration and a new Israeli prime minister, with the Palestinians and ourselves in the international community, can build. "What we've got to do is move it forward with the energy and the commitment and the dedication from the first day of the new American president that is necessary to achieve this."

Blair said the expectations of Obama were "immense".

He said: "In the conversations I've had with him, I think the thing that struck me is that he is a very thoughtful and intelligent person who understands that after the euphoriat there are some very hard choices and decisions to make.

"He's also somebody who has a genuine vision of how America can play a healing role in the world and has also some real sensitivity to the fact that people want America to do that."