Blair gets Middle East envoy post

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Tony Blair became the big-power Middle East envoy on Wednesday hours after he quit as prime minister, but faces a challenge winning Arab confidence having helped to invade Iraq four years ago.

His task will be to raise aid for the Palestinians, seek to build their ruling institutions and promote their economic development, said the Quartet of Middle East negotiators -- the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia.

Blair, 54, replaces as Quartet envoy former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who resigned in April of last year in frustration at the difficulty of making progress on a problem that has defied diplomacy for nearly 60 years.

In a statement, the Quartet said Blair, premier for 10 years, had "long demonstrated his commitment on these issues" and would "bring continuity and intensity of focus to the work of the Quartet in support of the Palestinians."

"He will spend significant time in the region working ... to help create viable and lasting government institutions representing all Palestinians, a robust economy, and a climate of law and order for the Palestinian people," it said.

But as the White House hailed an appointment it championed, spokesman Tony Snow sought to lower expectations. "Tony Blair is not the person who comes in and says, 'A-ha, I will solve it,'" he said. "He's not Superman. He doesn't have a cape."

Some European diplomats have raised questions about Blair's ability to garner broad Palestinian and Arab public support because of his use of British troops in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and his close ties with U.S. President George W. Bush.

But Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of France, which opposed the Iraq war, welcomed his appointment, as did Bush, who said, "I am pleased that this capable man has agreed to continue his work for peace in the Middle East."