In the Peace Plan for Gaza presented at the White House, in the presence of his Prime Minister, Beniamin Netanyahu, the US president kept himself the role of the head of the Council for Peace, the instrument, which will undertake the implementation of the plan. But on the field, Tony Blair, a former prime minister of Britain, a member of the Peace Council, will run.
Under normal circumstances, no one should want to take on this role, the Economist noted. H is a hell. The Israeli battle tanks have leveled its cities and have destroyed its infrastructure. And yet Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Britain from 1997 to 2007, is willing to undertake to command “this ruin”, as the British inspection notes.
For Blair, the Middle East is one of its most stable but controversial areas of occupation, following its departure from Britain’s prime minister in 2007. For eight years he was an envoy to the Quartet (US, UN, EU, Russia), a diplomatic team.
The reactions the strong supporters
His appointment as a quartet’s envoy was controversial from the outset: his support for the war of US President George Bush in Iraq, as well as his close relations with Israel, resulted in many Palestinians dealing with suspicion.
“It is absolutely unacceptable for Tony Blair to take over the leadership of a transitional authority in Gaza; we do not need a leader coming from a former colonial force.”Last Friday, Mustafa Barguti, a Palestinian politician, a former candidate for the Palestinian presidential election who had come second behind the current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “Blair has a very bad reputation because of the war in Iraq. We do not trust him: If he takes the place, he will only work for the Israelis »he added.
Tony Blair, however, has powerful supporters, from leaders from the Persian Gulf countries to Jared Cousner, a groom of the US president. In a meeting with the US president on August 27, Blair, Kussner and Steve Whitkov, a Trump Special Envoy for the Middle East, supported the proposal to appoint Blair as Gaza commander. On September 23, Trump allegedly presented his proposal to leaders of Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and five more Arab countries.
The preparation of Tony Blair for Gaza and Questions
According to Monde, the former 72 -year -old British Labor leader has been involved in a Gaza development plan for several months through his consultants, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change – Tony Blair Institute for World Change (TBI). Last July, the Financial Times revealed that members of the TBI along with the multinational consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group and Israeli businessmen, had participated in discussions about creating a “Riviera” in Gaza, a proposal that Donald Trump first made.
However, TBI’s activities raise questions mainly about his close relationship with Oracle, American businessman Larry Elison, who is now allegedly the richest man on the planet. Oracle pioneers in the field of artificial intelligence, whose virtues highly project TBI. According to a study by New Stateman magazine, which was based on interviews with 29 current and former Institute employees, TBI has developed very close ties with the British government, has immediate access to some
her ministers and is organizing “seminars” with Oracle. Larry Eliason’s donations to TBI, which amount to 294 million euros from 2021 -, say workers have created a culture to promote artificial intelligence, essentially a kind of lobby in favor of Oracle.
Did these donations, according to New Statesman, always gave the Blair Institute the opportunity to operate in 45 countries and to employ more than 900 employees, including personalities such as the former Italian prime minister? Mateo Renzi and former Finnish Prime Minister Sana Marin.
