The last word.(Tony Blair's Middle East policy)

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair last month took yet another gamble with United Kingdom policy in the Middle East, when he risked angering Britain's traditional Arab allies by his surprise support for Israel's new prime minister Ehud Olmert's plan to move forward on the next stage of his controversial unilateral withdrawal plan.

"I feel very much encouraged," the Israeli leader told a handful of British reporters after his two hour talks at 10 Downing Street. "He (Blair) wants what is good for us and the Palestinians."

The reason for Olmert's glowing assessment was provoked by Blair's unexpectedly positive remarks regarding Olmert's plan to "re-align" Israel's deployment in the West Bank.

Perhaps Olmert is the only Israeli politician who managed to catch a glimpse of the cards his predecessor Ariel Sharon kept very close to his chest regarding the second step in a grand design that started with the Israeli unilateral withdrawal from Gaza last year.

Olmert wants to repeat the process in "90%" of the West Bank. But the move is fraught with controversy. Many observers believe the plan to be simply a unilateral drawing of Israeli borders, which swallows up considerable chunks of Palestinian territory, including areas of Palestinian East Jerusalem.

"The success of the [Olmert] visit went beyond what we expected," a beaming Israeli diplomat told The Middle East, adding that the British leader had moved publicly closer to Olmert's position than even President George W Bush had been prepared to.

President Bush described Olmert's plans for the West Bank as 'bold' without any further adjectives of commitment, leaving the presidential response open for future interpretation.