Jerusalem ? International Mideast envoy Tony Blair announced four economic projects Monday designed to create thousands of jobs for Palestinians and bolster peace efforts with Israel.

While careful not to “exaggerate the significance” of the projects, Blair said it was a “strong beginning” toward supporting peace negotiations to be formally renewed at a U.S.-backed conference in Annapolis, Md., next week.

“Without hope of prosperity, rising living standards, and an economic stake in the future for ordinary Palestinians, the politics will never succeed,” the former British prime minister said at a joint news conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The projects – some already in the pipeline for months – are an emergency Gaza sewage treatment plant; a Turkish-sponsored industrial park in the southern West Bank; an agroindustrial park in the West Bank town of Jericho; and cooperation on reviving the Palestinian tourism sector, with a focus on the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Jesus’ traditional birthplace.