Tony Blair makes his first appearance as Mideast envoy in Portugal today as diplomats gathering to discuss ways to revive long talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The meeting in Lisbon will be the first since Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah last month. The power grab split the Palestinian leadership and placed yet another obstacle in the way of a broad Mideast peace deal.
But despite the setback, the one-day meeting of officials from the European Union, United Nations, United States and Russia - the so-called Quartet of Middle East peacemakers - comes at the tail end of a positive week for the region.
On Monday, President George W. Bush proposed that an international conference be held later this year aimed at restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas this week brought promises of a release of 250 Palestinian prisoners and an agreement to free up much-needed funds to Palestinian authorities.
The talks in Portugal, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, bring together UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
But all eyes will be on Mr Blair, who comes to his new role just three weeks after stepping down from the British helm, and before he has even had a chance to travel to the region as envoy.
AP