Tony Blair and Gaza International Transitional Authority

Sir Tony Blair said the peace plan announced by Trump was "the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering"   EPA

 

As envisioned by the Trump plan to end the war in Gaza and finally retrieve the Israeli hostages, the Gaza International Transitional Authority would be comprised of international experts, UN officials, Palestinian and Arab representatives to oversee an executive group of Palestinian administrators and technocrats responsible for the daily civic operations of the Strip. Oh yes, of course since former British PM Tony Blair working behind the scenes as a dedicated, experienced old hand at ME affairs, meant to lead the group.

 

"He has always had a corner of his heart devoted to the unfinished project of calming down this conflict."

"It's like he never left." 

The Israelis cannot easily swallow that idea that the Palestinian Authority will have any part at all."

"That could be modified somewhat by having someone like Blair in the middle. They respect  him." 

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak 

 

"There is a strong strand to his personality, this kind of huge confidence that he can solve the most difficult problems in the world."

"He will talk to anybody. One of his strengths is that he is pretty unsentimental about working with people that his liberal friends hate, like Trump and Netanyahu."

British journalist and Blair biographer John Rentoul

 

"We've been  under British colonialism already."

"He [Blair] has a negative reputation here."

"If  you mention Tony Blair, the first thing people mention is the Iraq War." 

Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary, Palestinian National Initiative 

Supporters and family members of hostages in Tel Aviv, demanding immediate relief of hostages. Reuters

 

Since the imagined postwar action plan for Gaza was pointedly designed by Tony Blair through the lens of his centre-left political view, the result of which was approved in large part by President Donald Trump and discussed between the U.S. President and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it makes perfect sense that Blair continue to be involved at the top level in plans for the rebuilding and governance of the Gaza Strip once a ceasefire agreement has been signed at last between Israel and Hamas. 

 

Mr. Blair himself took the initiative in offering  his services for that very position, willing to be responsible for the broad strategic and diplomatic decisions that will inevitably arise in coordination with the Gulf Arab states whose funding of much of the reconstruction effort draws them deep into the inner circle of rehabilitation of Gaza's physical landscape, if not the required efforts to somehow manage over time to reverse the radicalization of hatred and violence that Palestinians were led to absorb by their leaders, generation after generation. 

 

On the Palestinian side, consternation has been expressed by those recalling the former British PM as a co-author alongside George W. Bush of the Iraq War, along with the perception that Tony Blair has, in their opinion, consistently supported Israel. Mr. Blair's personal history with the region as a British premier, a UN special envoy, a private consultant and a behind-the-scenes mediator, dedicated to an intractable conflict between Israel's right to exist and an aspirational Palestinian state that consistently denied Israel's existence, would certainly place him at the head of an international transitional authority to achieve a worthy goal bringing needed relief to both sides in the conflict.

 

Getty Images

 

Most Israelis, unlike their Palestinian counterparts, regard Mr. Blair with a sense of trust, a tentatively relied-upon broker who just might be able to guide the complex situation to a final solution. Although he championed a two-state solution, tilting toward Israel's advantage, he would never have formally recognized the Palestinian territories as a sovereign state until such time as that elusive recognition of Israel eventuated, along with a cessation of violent and deadly incitement by Palestinian leaders against Israel and Jews. 

 

"You can always tell when there is tension in the room, and with Blair and Bibi you could tell they got along", stated a once-member of Blair's team from the UN Quartet. Mr. Netanyahu, with good reason, will not accept the potential of the Palestinian Authority playing a central role in Gaza, with Hamas gone. For his part, Mahmoud Abbas has rejected any governing authority in the enclave that is not Palestinian. The how of the matter is the possible reconciliation to the Blair plan that the Palestinian Authority would eventually become part of an independent Palestinian state.

 

The leaked document envisions the governance and reconstruction of postwar Gaza being led by international officials. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA

"There are still so many big pieces to work out; anything could still happen."

"But there is no question that [Blair's] ideas have got a lot more attention in the last few months."

"It is what everybody is looking at."

Regional diplomat familiar with discussions