Blair meets Palestinian leader in West Bank
Prime Minister Tony Blair today arrived in the West Bank town of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Blair was met at the presidential compound, by Mr Abbas and a guard of honour. The visit was the latest leg of the Prime Minister's Middle East visit which saw him have talks last night with Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert.
Mr Olmert told Mr Blair he would be willing to meet Mr Abbas for talks to try to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process after a summer of bloody conflict.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "The purpose of this visit was to hear the views from all sides so we came here today to hear the views of the Palestinian President.
"He will bring with him the views he heard from Prime Minister Olmert yesterday and look to hear Palestinian views and Palestinian concerns and try to see how we can get back to some sort of dialogue."
The spokesman said Mr Blair would also be waiting to hear Mr Abbas's response to the Israeli offer of talks.
Earlier today in Jerusalem Mr Blair met relatives of the three kidnapped Israeli soldiers whose abduction sparked the recent violence.
Mr Blair also had discussions in Jerusalem this morning with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Amir Peretz.
