By Xinhua
Lisbon : Leaders of the Middle East Quartet will meet here on Thursday to take stock of the latest developments in the region and discuss the role of Tony Blair, the quartet's new special envoy.
Blair, appointed after his resignation as British prime minister on June 27, is expected to unveil his plans to lay the groundwork for a future Palestinian state.
He was mandated to build Palestinian institutions and rally international economic support for the Palestinians.
This will be Blair's first appearance with the Quartet — the United States, the European Union (EU), Russia, and the United Nations — after his appointment.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, are all expected to attend the Lisbon meeting.
It is reported that Palestinians want Blair's role to be expanded so that he can talk to the Islamic militant group Hamas, which gripped power in the Gaza strip last month. But the idea met with opposition from Washington.
Thursday's meeting may also discuss U.S. President George W. Bush's proposal for an international conference to put the Middle East "roadmap" back on track.
Bush's proposal was welcomed by the EU and won support from certain Arab countries. But it remains to be seen whether the proposal will get formal endorsement of the Quartet meeting.
"We'll see if they put together something formally in their Quartet statement. I expect they might address it," said U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack on Tuesday.
McCormack said the Lisbon meeting might not be able to produce concrete achievements.
"I'm not sure that this is going to be a meeting with any new announcements. But there's a lot that has happened over the past couple weeks and it's a good opportunity for them to get together, take stock of what has happened over the past couple weeks, as well as to look ahead and chart a course out for the next several months," he told reporters in Washington.
The internal strife has prompted Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to form an emergency government which excludes Hamasmembers.
The political development has enabled the United States and the EU to resume financial aid to the new government, which Hamas terms illegal.
Israel has also unblocked customs duties it collected on behalf of the Palestinian authorities. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmertand Abbas also met and struck a deal on the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas's surprise victory in January 2006 and the subsequent formation of a Hamas-led government had forced the EU, the single biggest international donor to Palestinians, to stop channeling funds to the Hamas government.
The United States, the EU and Israel see Hamas as a terrorist organization.
The Quartet meeting, originally planned for June, was postponed after fighting broke out between Hamas and the moderate Fatah movement led by Abbas.
Diplomacy is heating up in the region. Solana is in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders before his trip to Lisbon.
On Wednesday, he met Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and new President Shimon Peres. On the Palestinian side, he met Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and negotiator Saeb Erakat.
Blair will visit the region next week.