BICOM

Former Prime Minister and Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair yesterday visited the Gaza Strip and called for rehabilitation of Gaza to act as a catalyst towards a wider peaceful resolution.

Blair met with Gaza officials, community leaders and families during his visit, commenting, “The last conflict left Gaza devastated and its people worn down and impoverished.” He commented that this was in part down to “those of us in the international community who over the years have made so many promises unfulfilled,” but also pointed the finger of blame at “politics both Israeli and Palestinian which have been unable to create the circumstances for peace.”

However, Blair said candidly that the answer was not simply “locking negotiators in a room long enough to make an agreement,” as “The on the ground reality is not conducive to peace; indeed the opposite. Gaza is the living proof.”

Blair proposed, “We should start with Gaza. Gaza is a metaphor for all that is wrong,” outlining several steps needed in order to rehabilitate the Gaza Strip. They include “clarity from Hamas,” which in practice administers Gaza. Blair asked “are they [Hamas]… dedicated to the achievement of a Palestinian State or part of a broader Islamist movement with regional designs? … Are they prepared to accept a Palestinian State within 1967 borders or not?” Other criteria specified by Blair include that, “Egypt has to be given credible guarantees … that Gaza will not be used as a base for terrorist activity in Sinai” and that “Israel should also do all that it can to assist reconstruction and to open up Gaza crossings to allow the maximum amount of material in.”

Blair envisaged that such a plan for Gaza would be part of a wider agreement including “dramatic improvement of Palestinian life on the West Bank.” In turn he said, this “could pave the way for Palestinian elections and the resumption of a proper negotiation for the resolution of the peace process.”