President Trump reached into the political attic Monday and dusted off former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, out of office since 2007, to help run Gaza under a proposed plan for peace in the Middle East.
“Good man. Very good man,” Trump said of Blair, now 72, as he unveiled a 20-point plan to “to end the Gaza conflict” at the White House.
Blair will serve on a new international transitional body — dubbed the “board of peace” by Trump, who would chair the panel — tasked with overseeing and supervising day-to-day operations in the Gaza Strip once Hamas is removed from power.
“Working with the World Bank and others, it will be responsible for recruiting and training a new government that will be made up of Palestinians along with highly qualified experts from all along the world,” the president said of the proposed committee.
“It will be quite the board – everybody wants to be on it,” Trump teased, while only naming himself and Blair as members.
The former prime minister has long been interested in issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is viewed as a consistent supporter of Israel and a strong advocate for a two-state solution.
After leaving 10 Downing Street, Blair served as a special envoy for a group of diplomats from the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the US – known as the Quartet on the Middle East – pushing for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Blair’s think tank, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has commissioned multiple polls since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that found an overwhelming majority of Palestinians in Gaza reject the terror group but want to live independently from Israel.
The polling “underlines the urgency of establishing a new reality for Gaza, and of providing Palestinians with a better future with ultimate agency to govern themselves, free from interference from Israel, and one that forges a path ultimately towards a two-state solution,” Blair’s group argued in May.
Blair has reportedly been meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders as well as White House aides for the last several months to discuss post-war plans for Gaza.
In late August, he met with Trump, senior administration officials and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former Middle East envoy, to discuss the future of the enclave and other aspects of the nearly two-year-long war.
Blair is closely associated with the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, having deployed British forces based on intelligence that Saddam Hussein’s regime had weapons of mass destruction that was later found to be partial and flawed.
The former prime minister’s name was floated by Israel shortly after the war broke out as a possible coordinator of international aid to Gaza, but the role did not materialize.
Trump’s peace framework has not been agreed to by Hamas, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing Monday to “finish the job,” if the terror group turns it down.
Blair lauded Trump’s plan as “bold and intelligent” and the “best chance” to bring about peace in the region.
“President Trump has put down a bold and intelligent plan which, if agreed, can end the war, bring immediate relief to Gaza, the chance of a brighter and better future for its people, while ensuring Israel’s absolute and enduring security and the release of all hostages,” he said in a statement.
“It offers us the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering, and I thank President Trump for his leadership, determination and commitment,” he continued. “In particular, his willingness to chair the Board of Peace to oversee the new Gaza is a huge signal of support and confidence in the future of Gaza, of the possibility of Israelis and Palestinians finding a path to peace, and of the potential for a broader regional and global alliance to counter the forces of extremism and promote peace and prosperity between nations.”
Read the full article here
