Tony Blair wins nod from Palestine Authority for role in postwar Gaza | Gaza
Former British prime minister Tony Blair appears to have received the Palestinian Authority’s approval to participate in the reconstruction of Gaza after an exploratory meeting in Jordan.
Blair met with Hussein al-Sheikh, deputy president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and chairman of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in Amman, Jordan, on Sunday. It was the first such meeting since Donald Trump announced his role in Blair’s 20-point plan.
Although Blair is in New York for key meetings with Arab leaders at the UN general assembly, this is the first attempt to test his possible role in Palestinian leadership. Hamas, which has said it will have no role in the future Gaza government, has opposed Blair’s intervention and the idea of any body acting as a foreign protector of Palestine.
The exact powers of the US president’s proposed “peace board” and its relationship with a technocratic committee of appointed Palestinians have not yet been clarified.
Al-Sheikh said in a statement: “Today, I met with Mr. Tony Blair to discuss the day after the war and to ensure the success of President Trump’s efforts aimed at stopping the war and establishing lasting peace in the region. We confirmed our readiness to work with President Trump, Mr. Blair and partners to consolidate the ceasefire, facilitate the entry of aid, the release of hostages and prisoners, and then begin recovery and reconstruction.”
He continued: “We emphasized the importance of stopping the undermining of the Palestinian Authority, in particular the return of withheld Palestinian revenues, and preventing the undermining of the two-state solution, in order to prepare for a comprehensive and lasting peace compatible with international legitimacy.”
The Palestinian Authority is keen to release tax revenues withheld by the Israeli government for blocking salary payments and undermining its liquidity, in violation of the Oslo accords.
Israel also threatened not to renew next month its annual exemption from terrorist financing laws that allow Israeli banks to transact with Palestinian banks.
Sharhabeel al-Zaeem, the Palestinian Authority justice minister, criticized Blair’s intervention last week, saying: “Is this the independent Palestinian state that we are aiming for? All these years of struggle for Mr Blair, who failed in London, failed in Britain, failed in Iraq, to come and be our protector – with respect for Mr Blair on a personal level – as if they were minors?”
Blair will have to negotiate a fine line, as neither Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor the Trump administration have yet said they are willing to work with the Palestinian Authority. Trump banned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas from flying to the UN, but reports on Sunday suggested Abbas would attend the summit in Egypt on Monday.
The Trump plan did not specify when power would be transferred to a reformed Palestinian Authority, but it would at least have to hold elections and demonstrate that it could oversee broad reconstruction efforts. Blair assured the Palestinian Authority that its intervention was a sign that Gaza and the West Bank would eventually be governed as a single entity.
French diplomats said they had also begun working on a possible UN Security Council authorization for the planned international stabilization force.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, with whom Blair has a close relationship, often insulted Abbas by describing him as the leader of the refugee group.
