International Quartet Mideast envoy Tony Blair said on Tuesday that the international community was committed to the creation of a viable Palestinian statehood alongside Israel.

The Palestinian state will include the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in its territories, Blair said after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

However, Blair did not mention East Jerusalem which the Palestinians claimed to be their capital.

Referring to a bitter feud between Islamic Hamas movement and Abbas' Fatah party, Blair said differences between the two Palestinian territories must be solved first.

The international community intensified pressure on Israel to halt Jewish settlement activities in the West Bank as the construction blocks the peace negotiations.

Blair said he is optimistic following US President Barack Obama's speech in which he renewed the US commitment to the Middle East peace process, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also voiced a commitment to the two-state solution.

Unlike Blair, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was disappointed by the Israeli hawkish premier who said the Palestinian statehood must be demilitarized and the Palestinians have to recognize Israel as a homeland of all Jews first.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2009)