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Tony Blair holds talks in the region following latest Quartet meeting

Quartet Representative Tony Blair said it was still his desire for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to be renewed before the United Nations considers a resolution on Palestinian statehood in September.

Tony Blair was speaking as he returned to the region for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad following Monday’s Quartet meeting in Washington DC.

"It's possible, and that's what we're going to work on," Tony Blair said in a Bloomberg Television interview today from Jerusalem. He added that in the face of "difficult issues" an agreement is more pressing than ever.

Tony Blair said that he understands why the Palestinian Authority is looking at UN recognition of a Palestinian state, but said that he did not think this would produce a final resolution, saying that it was only through agreement can a peaceful solution be reached.

"The trouble is, even if we get through to September, and we have a debate at the United Nations, in the end that doesn't deliver a Palestinian state."

Tony Blair said if the international community fails to keep its focus on the negotiations it may find that "the Israeli-Palestinian issue starts to play in a way that I think would be counterproductive, unfortunate and possibly even dangerous."

President Barack Obama said in a Washington speech on May 19 that negotiations must be based on the goal of creating a viable Palestinian state with "the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states."

"What we are trying to do is take his speech and turn it into a framework of guidance for those negotiations," Tony Blair said, "so the Israelis and Palestinians both know if they sit back around that table again then they've got a chance of reaching a deal."

The Quartet is made up of the US, EU, Russia and the UN.