BREAKING NEWS

Palestine Papers: Russia disillusioned with Blair, Quartet

By JPOST.COM STAFF

JANUARY 26, 2011 17:38

A Russian diplomat who attended a Quartet meeting with Tony Blair in February 2008, told Palestinian officials that the former UK prime minister seemed to be acting as then US president George W. Bush's representative on the ground. The comments were recorded in a document leaked by Al-Jazeera as part of the "Palestine Papers."

The unnamed Russian diplomat was quoted in the document as saying that the US had succeeded in "marginalizing the Quartet," and as a result Moscow was considering withdrawing from the group.

The Russian representative was also critical of the Palestinians, stating that they were only interested in working with the strongest power, the US. He added that this was illogical, considering what he deemed, overwhelming pro-Israel positions taken by Washington over the decades.

According to the document, Blair said at the Quartet meeting that he had a good relationship with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and was trying to convince him that Israel's approach to Gaza was wrong and should be changed immediately.

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