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British PM Blair to Arrive in Lebanon on Monday

Lebanon, which recently saw the air and sea blockade imposed on it by Israel for well over a month, was bracing for demonstrations before the arrival of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was set to land in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Monday. Lebanese Prime Minster Fouad Siniora had announced last Wednesday that his government had invited Mr. Blair to visit the country, in hopes that he would intervene to end the eight-week blockade by Israel. There has been no word from Beirut or London as to what the updated agenda for the meeting would be.

The British Prime Minister, who late last week announced that he would resign in the spring of 2007, was in Israel and the Palestinian Authority over the weekend, in an attempt to broker a return to the stalled peace process in the region. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the Israeli capital of Jerusalem, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority.

Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Blair of being a "key accomplice" of Israel during the 34-day war, which ended in the first half of August. The Shiite movement asked the Lebanese government, in which two Hizballah members sit in the Cabinet, to declare the British PM "persona non grata." Other Shiite Muslim groups - Hizballah is seen to represent many Shiites in the country, and is funded and supplied by Shiite-majority Iran - throughout Lebanon have also said that Mr. Blair is not welcome in their country.