LOC20:24
17:24 GMT
GAZA, March 1 (KUNA) -- Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip must be
lifted immediately in order for aid to reach the people who need it, Middle
East Quartet Envoy Tony Blair said Sunday.
Blair's remarks came after he paid a brief visit to a UN school in the Gaza
Strip on his first trip to the Hamas-controlled enclave since being appointed
as the Quartet's envoy.
"We can supply Palestinians with money within the next few days, as we rely
on the international conference on Gaza reconstruction in Egypt next Monday,"
Blair told reporters.
The Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the
United States -- is due to meet on the sidelines of a donor's conference in
the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the reconstruction of Gaza Strip.
"We are working on sustaining peace in the region, so that we make sure
that none of the destruction or bloodshed would reoccur," Blair pointed out,
noting that a two-state solution was the quartet's road map on that regard and
its mission in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Blair, who used to be former British premier 1997-2007, had canceled his
visit to Gaza last year upon Israeli security warnings.
His current visit to the strip coincided with a visit by a World Bank
delegation before heading to Egypt to participate in the reconstruction
conference. (end)
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