Palestinians: Tony Blair Is 'of No Use at All'

The Palestinian Authority is accusing Middle East envoy Tony Blair of bias toward Israel and calling for his removal, reports the Telegraph. "Our general evaluation of his efforts is that he has become of no use at all," said a senior official with the Palestinian Authority. "He has developed a large bias in favor of the Israeli side and he has lost a lot of his credibility." The comments are the first public call for the Quartet—the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the UN—to remove Blair, who was appointed envoy when he left the prime minister's office in 2007.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority said that Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians would continue to work with Blair, but privately, officials complain that Blair's usefulness is now "extremely limited." Palestinian officials reportedly are angry at Blair for working against their bid for UN recognition for statehood. (More Palestinian Authority stories.)