Blair overcomes Israeli anger to salvage talks

By PHIL REEVES in Jerusalem and DONALD MACINTYRE in Tehran

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has personally intervened to save a crucial mission to Israel by his Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, from being scuttled by a diplomatic row whipped up by Israeli politicians who are alarmed by Britain's wary new courtship of Iran.

Hours before Mr Straw was due to touch down in Tel Aviv, his visit was in chaos. An angry Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, had cancelled their meeting. The British ambassador, Sherard Cowper-Coles, had been given an official dressing-down. And Mr Straw's counterpart, Shimon Peres, had called off an official dinner in his honour.

The trip was rescued from disaster by a 15-minute telephone conversation between Mr Blair and Mr Sharon, whom he persuaded to reverse his plans and see Mr Straw.

Ostensibly, Israel's ire was over an article by Mr Straw in the Iranian press in which he said that "one of the factors that breeds terrorism" in the Middle East is "anger...at events over the years in Palestine".

Although these views are widely supported within the international community, Israeli officials immediately seized on them as evidence that Britain was blaming Israel for Palestinian violence.

One, Raanan Gissin, even went so far as to describe Mr Straw's words as "bordering on anti-Semitism".

Downing Street described the conversation between the two premiers as "amicable" - but Mr Blair clearly saw the need to rescue the mission as more important than an unpleasant diplomatic spat.

This was echoed by Mr Straw himself during his visit to Tehran. He said there was a "bigger picture" than the fracas, adding that he understood Israel's feelings at the "consequences of brutal terrorism and their sensitivities about other nations in the region".

"Britain was helping to develop a broad-based international consensus following the atrocities of September 11 which is of importance to the whole of this region, as it is to world peace," he said.

A key underlying cause for the furore was Israel's desire to draw attention to its deep trepidation about the shifts in the Middle East's geopolitical landscape brought about by the terror attacks on the US. Mr Straw's trip to Iran, the first by a British Foreign Secretary since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was a source of particular anxiety in Israel.

As one senior British source put it: "If Jack Straw had read out the Tehran telephone directory, Israel would probably have found something to object to."

The principle purpose of Mr Straw's trip to Israel was to see Mr Sharon, who has become an unexpectedly stubborn obstacle in the US-led efforts to build a broad coalition against Osama bin Laden, and extremist Islamic groups affiliated with his al Qaeda movement.

His mission was to try to reassure the Israeli leader over the West's new overtures to Iran, but also to press him to stop blocking truce talks between Mr Peres and Yasser Arafat - which have so far been postponed four times.

There was speculation that the Peres-Arafat meeting will finally happen today as Mr Arafat has cancelled a fence-mending trip to Syria.

The US and its allies want Israel and the Palestinians to end their hostilities so as to lower tension on the streets of Arab and Islamic countries, whom the West is now courting.

Yasser Arafat last week responded with a cease-fire which has dramatically reduced the violence, but did not prevent several killings. But Mr Sharon has - to the growing annoyance of Washington and its friends - been uncooperative, insisting that US President George Bush's anti-terror coalition will not be "at Israel's expense".

Immediately after the US atrocities, Israel sent tanks into Jenin, Jericho and Ramallah - West Bank towns under complete Palestinian administration.

When Mr Arafat declared his cease-fire, the Israeli armed forces responded by saying it would end raids into Palestinian areas. But this did not stop them from going ahead on Monday with plans to seal off a 20-mile stretch of Arab land on the north-western edge of the occupied West Bank, and declaring it a "closed military zone". The plans - seen by Palestinians as the first step to annexation - were a further cause for western annoyance.

There is a long record of dust-ups between Israel and visiting British emissaries, ranging from David Mellor, William Waldegrave and Robin Cook. Mr Straw had already incurred Israel's displeasure over his tough stance on its conduct in the conflict with the Palestinians - its siege of the occupied territories, and F-16 bombing raids.

Israel is anxious about Iraq, and - as Israelis flock to buy gas masks - is pressing its supporters in Washington to persuade the Bush administration to include it on its target list. It wants the West to maintain pressure in Syria, which supports its enemies to the north - Hizbollah. It is alarmed that Yasser Arafat, whom Mr Sharon calls a "terrorist murderer", is joining the coalition against terror, rather than becoming the object of its attentions.

And Iran has long been seen as an implaccable foe. Hardline Israeli politicians - who dominate the current government - recoil at the notion of any major western nation warming relations with the Iranians. The more moderate are anxious and wary, but see the possibility for gains. If the US and its main allies have closer relations with Iran, then - they hope - there may be a chance of pressuring Tehran over key strategic issues that worry Israel: its development of Shahab-III medium-range ballistic missiles; the funding and arming of guerrilla groups fighting Israel, and its acquisition of nuclear materials from Russia.

But, at bottom, Tehran is seen as the enemy, a rival which sponsors Islamic groups dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state, and Mr Straw's visit was a sign of the changing times. Earlier this week, Mr Peres summarised Mr Straw's coalition-building mission to Tehran in terms which reflected Israel's disapproval of the evolving new world order: "When you need a thief, you pull him off the hangman's tree."

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