Tony Blair praises security progress on visit to Jenin
Quartet Representative Tony Blair today praised the "great progress and work done" to improve the security situation in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Speaking to local journalists after meeting with the Governor Qaddura Mousa and Palestinian Minister of Justice Ali Khashan, Tony Blair said he hoped the city would one day be "a model for development, as well as political and economic stability."
"A state is not something that is simply negotiated from the top down, it must be built from the ground up," he said.
"Which means having a properly functioning economy and people here in Palestine having control over their own lives.
"The weight of the occupation is very heavy on Palestinian people here. Jenin is a long way from being a thriving and prosperous city that it could be. It expresses both the hope and the enormous scale of the challenge."
During his visit to Jenin, Tony Blair also visited the Khoula girls' school in Qabatiya which is in the process of having new classrooms built thanks to international donor support through the Municipal Development and Lending Fund, which Mr Blair has helped to promote.
Mr Blair said he had noticed a "great change over the past three months," which he said was thanks to the PA security services, judiciaries and attorney general.
Acknowledging the changes in Jenin, Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak said recently that "so far" the city has been a "great success" and could in time prove an example elsewhere in the West Bank.