Israeli fighter jets scrambled to intercept a plane carrying Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair this week after his pilots failed to identify themselves, an Israeli security source said yesterday.

The former British Prime Minister, who has been charged by the international community with helping the Palestinians on their way to statehood, was en route to Jerusalem from the World Economic Forum in Egypt with other delegates on Wednesday and was unaware of the incident, his spokesman said.

"They were unaware there was any problem with the flight and there was no follow-up," the spokesman, who is based in Jerusalem, said. "They didn't hear about it until it was in the media afterwards."

The security source, who declined to be named, said the jets were called back to base after pilots flying the plane carrying Mr Blair identified themselves.

As a guard against possible attacks, Israel requires all planes entering its airspace to provide an identification code and the source said it was standard procedure to intercept those who failed to do so.

Mr Blair was in the West Bank city of Bethlehem this week to help drum up international investment for the Palestinian territories as President Mahmoud Abbas holds statehood talks with Israel.