Tony Blair joined US president Donald Trump in a White House meeting to discuss plans for the future of Gaza on Wednesday.
It is not his first time attending such a high-level meeting, according to reports. Blair was also at the White House last month on the same day Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Trump he had nominated him for the Nobel peace prize, the Axios news site has reported.
So, why is Britain’s former prime minister playing a key role in the future of post-war Gaza?
Blair is said to have been working for months with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former Middle East peace broker, on plans to rebuild the war-torn territory.
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Last February, Trump floated the idea of the US taking ownership of Gaza and creating a “riviera of the Middle East”. The plan, which included the forced relocation of millions of Palestinians, was condemned internationally.
A subsequent “Trump Riviera” project, led by Israeli business people and using financial models developed by the US consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, was developed against the backdrop of Trump’s vision of taking over the Palestinian territory and transforming it into a resort.
While the Financial Times reported earlier this year that members of the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) took part in calls on the project, TBI has insisted it does not support relocating Gazans.
TBI has said that it “speaks to many different groups and organisations with post-war ‘plans’ for Gaza”, but it does not endorse any relocation of Gazans.
“TBI’s work in the region, since its inception, has always been dedicated to building a better Gaza for Gazans,” it said, recently. “Tony Blair has worked for this since leaving office. It has never been about relocating Gazans, which is a proposal TBI has never authored, developed or endorsed."
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Blair told Politico last October that neither Israel nor Hamas should govern Gaza, but that a third-party authority should take over as part of a new peace deal.
Some also suggest the presence of Britain’s former prime minister in discussions may be intended to shore up support among Arab nations over the future of Gaza.
Blair (72) has forged ties in the region as a special envoy for the Quartet on the Middle East – made up of the United States, UN, EU and Russia to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian process – from 2007 to 2015.
Many Arabs cannot forget or forgive Blair for launching – with US president George W Bush – the 2003 war on Iraq which toppled the country’s president Saddam Hussein, who was seen as an obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians and Arabs.
To court Arab states after the Iraq War, Blair joined in supporting an Israeli plan to withdraw from parts of Gaza and Jericho in the West Bank which would have left 92,000 Israelis in major settlement blocs.
Blair also urged the Quartet to issue, by the end of 2005, a roadmap for the emergence of a Palestinian state. This was dropped after president Bush refused to adopt it due to the US special relationship with Israel.
Despite his prominent role as an envoy, there was little tangible progress in the region.
In the meantime, contrasting messages emerge from the White House on expectations for an end to the conflict in Gaza – and what may follow.
On Monday, Trump told reporters there could be a “conclusive ending” in Gaza in two to three weeks, only to row back during a meeting the following day. “There’s nothing conclusive,” he told reporters. “It’s been going on for a long time . . . thousands of years it’s been going on for . . . but hopefully we’re going to have things solved very quickly with regard to Gaza.”
