Blair: Israel, Palestinians should not let Gaza tensions stymie talks

The Quartet's Middle East envoy Tony Blair on Thursday urged Israel and the Palestinians to continue negotiations, despite the escalation of tensions over Gaza rocket fire.

"I don't think even with those rocket attacks that should get in way of pursuing a political process and a political negotiation that allows, under the leadership of the United States, the two sides to come together and to try and describe an outline of what a two-state solution looks like of how a Palestinian state is going to be and to operate and to function," Blair told reporters after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron in Jerusalem.

The former British leader also called for a new approach to the coastal strip.

"The strikes from Gaza just underline and illustrate the depth of the problem," he said. "Gaza continues to be under lockdown with extremist groups operating, the people in a desperate situation there and I think one thing we are going to need, medium and long term is a completely new strategy towards Gaza." (Ynetnews)