Blair cancels Gaza visit

International Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair cancelled what would have been his first trip to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday because of a security threat, his spokeswoman said. ‘Unfortunately we had to cancel the visit because of a specific security threat... we had to turn back on the road,’ Ruti Winterstein said. She said the former British premier was committed to visiting the impoverished Palestinian territory and hoped to schedule another trip at a later time. Blair, who was appointed representative of the Middle East peace Quartet more than a year ago, was to have visited a waste water treatment plant in northern Gaza and to have discussed humanitarian activities. He had been expected to meet the commissioner general of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, Karen Abu Zaid, and the body’s local director, John Ging. Blair had not planned to meet any representatives of Hamas, the Islamist movement that seized control of Gaza in June 2007 from forces loyal to the Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas. But Hamas, which had welcomed the visit, said it had made the appropriate security preparations and accused Israel of pressuring Blair into cancelling the trip.