MIDDLE EAST:Palestinian negotiators have called for Tony Blair to be given a broader role as the international community's Middle East envoy, overseeing both Israeli and Palestinian obligations.
A letter was delivered to representatives of the Quartet of world powers - the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia - who held their first meeting with the former prime minister of Britain in his new job on Tuesday in London. Mr Blair's formal job description focuses on his role in rebuilding the Palestinian Authority, crippled by the bloody division between Fatah and Hamas.
But the Palestinian letter demands that he also police Israeli commitments under the stalled peace process, such as freezing the building of settlements on the West Bank and removing checkpoints.
There were reports from Jerusalem yesterday, denied by his office and the Quartet, that Mr Blair was also seeking to broaden his job description. They said there was no disagreement at Tuesday's meetings with Quartet officials and with the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, but they expected Mr Blair to take the widest interpretation of his mandate and to play a leading political role.