By Xinhua
Washington : The US is nominating its former ambassador in Cyprus to be a top aide of Tony Blair, who serves as envoy to the Middle East for the diplomatic grouping known as the Quartet – the United Nations, the US, the European Union and Russia, the US State Department said.
“The US is pleased to support the mission of Quartet representative Tony Blair by offering ambassador Don Bandler, a senior retired US diplomat of considerable experience, to serve as the quartet representative’s head of mission in Jerusalem,” the department’s deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Wednesday.
Blair was appointed as representative of the Quartet after his resignation as British prime minister on June 27. He has been expected to set out his plans to lay the groundwork for a future Palestinian state.
The quartet has been trying since 2003 to implement a road map for peace between the Palestinians and Israel.
It was reported that Blair is to tackle economics but not Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.