Meanwhile, the quartet of the U.S., Russia, European Union and the U.N. has formally named Tony Blair as their new Middle East envoy. The Bush administration immediately announced Blair will be limited to narrow, technical issues around reforming Palestinian institutions. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will continue to handle all matters relating to a final-status peace agreement.

State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack: “Well, Mr. Blair’s focus will be on building those Palestinian institutions which will form the basis of a Palestinian state. And I would say that without those institutions and without those institutions being developed, you’re not going to have a Palestinian state. So the idea of the political negotiations and the building of the institutions within the Palestinian state are really of almost equal importance, because you are not going to have a Palestinian state in the absence of either one of those, success in one of those two areas.”

Blair’s role is already drawing criticism. Aaron David Miller, a former senior State Department adviser on Arab-Israeli peace talks, said: “Unless he has the authority to deal with the Israelis on the issue of movement and lifting of barriers, he’s not going to get very far. … Without the authority to help change the situation on the ground, this isn’t going to work.” While Israeli leaders praised Blair’s appointment, Palestinians offered criticism.

Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad: “We expect that Tony Blair will not be a good man in this position, because according to our experience at the time he was the prime minister of Britain, that he was not honest and was not helpful in solving the conflict in the Middle East, and all the time he adopts the American and the Israeli position, so we don’t expect good news from putting Blair in such a position.”