Blair urges Obama to make Mideast peace a priority

The former British prime minister said negotiations on a peace deal required the "energy, commitment and dedication" of the new president.

Speaking to BBC radio after a meeting of the Middle East Quartet in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik, Blair said, "There is a foundation on which a new American administration and a new Israeli prime minister, with the Palestinians and ourselves in the international community, can build.

"What we've got to do is move it forward with the energy and the commitment and the dedication from the first day of the new American president that is necessary to achieve this."

Blair said the expectations of Obama were "immense".

He said, "In the conversations I've had with him, I think the thing that struck me is that he is a very thoughtful and intelligent person who understands that after the euphoria... there are some very hard choices and decisions to make.

"He's also somebody who has a genuine vision of how America can play a healing role in the world and has also some real sensitivity to the fact that people want America to do that."

Blair said attempts to get the stalled peace process moving had started to bear fruit in the past year.

Asked whether he was in the role for the "long haul", he said, "I am totally committed to it, I think there is nothing more important.

"I personally think that, even more so than I did when I was prime minister, that the single most important thing for relations in the Middle East... is to get this Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolved."

The Middle East Quartet comprises the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States.