Sir Tony Blair’s involvement in post-war Gaza would be welcomed by Middle Eastern governments. but he remains deeply unpopular with their citizens, insiders told The i Paper.
Under Donald Trump’s peace plan, which Hamas and Israel both agreed to last week, Gaza would be governed by a “technocratic, apolitical” committee of local and international experts, with oversight from a board including US President Donald Trump and the former British prime minister.
However, Blair has a complex and longstanding relationship with the Middle East, which could cause friction going forward.
David Butter, an associate fellow on Chatham House’s Middle East programme, said that many Middle Eastern countries may be “wary” or “suspicious” of Blair, given his chequered history in the region, but if they regard him as part of the Trump team, they will agree to work with him.
Blair is perhaps best-known for having led the UK into the military invasion of Iraq in 2003, in which at least 85,000 Iraqi civilians and 179 UK troops and MOD staff were killed. The UK’s involvement was based on the premise that Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction – something that turned out not to be true.
The US-led invasion, which did not have the support of the UN, triggered a violent civil war which, at its peak, claimed 100 lives a day. The war created political and security unrest from which Iraq is still recovering, and arguably helped set the conditions for the rise of Isis in 2014.
After leaving office, Blair was hired as the official representative of the Middle East Quartet, a group made up of the US, Russia, the European Union and the UN. Blair held the role until 2015, with the Quartet praising his “unwavering commitment to the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace”.
Iraq legacy won’t hinder peace talks
One source close to the recent peace negotiations said that Blair’s role had been welcomed by many stakeholders.
“He’s respected in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Oman. They see him as committed to the region and committed to the two state solution, with a phenomenal amount of expertise,” they said. “In the Gulf, he has a great reputation and a great access.”
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