Tony Blair triggered a blitz of diplomatic activity aimed at reviving the stagnant Middle East peace process when he arrived in the region today.

The former Prime Minister started his first trip to the Middle East since being appointed as envoy by meeting Abdel Ilah Khatib, the Jordanian Foreign Minister, in Amman, before flying into Tel Aviv at lunchtime.

Later today - in meetings with Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Haim Ramon, the Deputy Prime Minister and Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister - the former Prime Minister will outline the remit he has been given to help the region towards a settlement.

Mr Blair has been appointed by the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators, the European Union, United Nations, US and Russia, to encourage Palestinian economic reform and political development to prepare the Palestinians for eventual statehood when an agreement with Israel is reached.

Mr Blair - backed by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President - is believed to eventually want an expanded peacemaking role, involving mediating with all sides over a final treaty.

However the United States is thought to want to keep any final peace negotiating in the hands of the Quartet's leaders. Israel, meanwhile, wants to put off any final status talks with the Palestinians, instead preferring confidence-building steps such as releasing Palestinian prisoners and gradually increasing economic cooperation.

In particular, the US and Israel will not permit Mr Blair to talk to Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist organisation which launched a military coup in the Gaza Strip earlier in the summer, instead focusing talks on the secular Fatah movement headed by Mr Abbas in the West Bank. Hamas refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist, renounce terrorism or recognise previous peace deals.

Mr Blair will head to the West Bank tomorrow morning after a breakfast meeting in Jerusalem with Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the hawkish Israeli Likud party. Once in Ramallah, he will hold meetings with Mr Abbas and Salaam Fayyad, the new Palestinian Prime Minister, and plans to spend much of the day in the territory before returning to Israel in the evening and having dinner with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He will return to Britain on Wednesday morning.

Speaking after his meeting with the Jordanian Foreign Minister today, Mr Blair's spokesman said that the discussions in Amman had been "constructive and positive" but would not give any further details.

However, the former Prime Minister's visit comes before an arguably even more significant summit in Israel on Wednesday, when representatives of the Arab League arrive in the Jewish State to discuss the bloc's peace plan.

Although the two Foreign Ministers appointed by the group to make the trip come from countries which have already signed peace treaties with Israel - Egypt and Jordan - their visit marks the first time any Arab League delegation has been sent to Israel to discuss a peace proposal.

At a meeting with Ms Livni they will outline the League's plan, drawn up by Saudi Arabia, for the entire Arab world to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel if Israel first signs a deal with the Palestinians, withdrawing from the occupied West Bank and eastern Jerusalem and striking a deal over Palestinian refugees.

Israel says that it will discuss the initiative, but that its terms must represent a starting position and not an unchangeable diktat.

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