BICOM

Israel’s President Shimon Peres met yesterday in Jerusalem with former-Prime Minister Tony Blair, who in his capacity as Quartet Representative to the Middle East agreed that Israeli and Palestinian leaders must seize the historic opportunity to reach a peace agreement.

Peres said, “This is a time for historic decisions, not political ones,” as “We are now facing the most crucial time since the establishment of the new Middle East in 1948.” Peres urged that, “All of us must come together and understand the depth and the seriousness of the choice before us” because “we don’t have unlimited time” and “the wrong decision is irreversible.” Addressing the current peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Peres said, “There is a window of opportunity, we can make peace with the Palestinians, and I believe that Abu Mazen [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] is serious in his will to do so.”

Blair concurred that “this is a profound moment for the opportunity to make peace, I hope on all sides there is the courage, vision and determination to move forward.” He added, “We’re all striving very hard and particularly with all the turmoil… to create out of this part of the Middle East some sense of hope based on the principles of societies that are open-minded and tolerant and economies that are modern and offer opportunity for our young people.”

Peres then thanked Blair for the Quartet’s work “to move the economic and political side forward together” which he said is carried out “constantly and quietly” and is responsible for “developments in the West Bank which wouldn’t happen without your initiative.”

Meanwhile, this morning’s Maariv leads with the race to succeed Peres when his term as President expires in the summer. The decision will be made by a Knesset vote, but a Maariv poll says Likud MK and former Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin is the public’s current choice, closely followed by Nobel Prize winner Prof Dan Shechtman.