Tony Blair's blunder on Middle East peace
Tony Blair’s chance to play a political role in the Palestinian issue is slipping away, as the PA refuses to accept him, President Abbas and the PLO refuse to deal with him on a personal level and Hamas has turned down all his initiatives.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Tony Blair has kicked off his personal campaign of seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but Palestinian Authority members and others have bluntly expressed their distrust of the former British prime minister and former envoy of the Middle East Quartet.
Palestinian leaders are clear about their resentment of Blair. During a Nov. 9 meeting with a group of Egyptian journalists in Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attacked Blair and called him a “spy” for Israel because of his attempts to conclude an appeasement agreement between Hamas and Israel, while ignoring the PA.
“Abbas has been refusing to meet with Blair for two years because of his pro-Israeli negative role,” political sources in the PA told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.
The PA was suspicious of Blair when he was the envoy of the Middle East Quartet in 2011 and accused him of using the Quartet to “achieve Israel’s demands only, satisfy it and reflect its stances.”
