Major Western powers met on Tuesday to define the role outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair could play as their Middle East envoy in a bid to revive peace prospects after Hamas's take-over of the Gaza Strip.
A statement from the so-called Quartet mediators - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - could be issued within hours, the top US official in the talks said, though he offered no details.
"The envoys discussed a number of issues including Blair. Any proposals regarding Tony Blair have been referred to all the principles (leaders) and any possible announcement is pending a response from them," said Brenden Varma, spokesman for the UN's special envoy to the Middle East, Michael Williams.
At issue at the meeting in Jerusalem was how sweeping a mandate to grant Blair, who steps down as prime minister on Wednesday, diplomats said. The previous envoy focused mainly on economic issues rather than day-to-day negotiations aimed at reviving talks on Palestinian statehood.
Blair gave his clearest indication yet that he wants the job, saying in London that he was ready, in principle, to try to help bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"I think anybody who cares about greater peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential and, as I have said on many occasions, I would do whatever I could to help such a resolution come about," Blair told reporters. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert support Blair's appointment as Quartet envoy, aides said.
But some Quartet diplomats have raised questions about Blair's ability to garner broad Palestinian and Arab public support because of his leading role in the Iraq war and his close relationship with US President George W. Bush.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhmoum said Blair was not welcome in the envoy post because he supported "the Zionist occupation's terrorism and massacres against our people".
The US representative at the Jerusalem meeting, Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, said after the talks on Blair: "I think you will hear more from the Quartet in a few hours."