The basic line on Tony Blair as the Quartet’s new Middle East envoy is that the Palestinians and Arab world are angry about the decision because Blair has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with George W. Bush for six years. He invaded Iraq and he backed Israel’s 34-day war against Hezbollah. Palestinians by and large seem to back that view with varying degrees of vitriol. The one notable exception of course is Abbas and his coterie of officialdom, including Salam Fayad. Fayad, an old friend of Blair’s, credits Blair with at least making an effort to tie the Iraq war to Palestinian statehood aspirations and the failed 2005 bid to call a peace conference in London.
Israel, meanwhile, is gleeful. A “terrific decision” said Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. A “true friend of Israel” said PM Ehud Olmert.
But looking at Blair’s history as a supporter of the Iraq war or the Lebanon war or what have you, misses the point. What matters here are the powers and mandate granted Blair in his new post. Is he charged with brooking political divides and wrestling with final status issues? Or, as early indications suggest, will he be limited to economic issues, humanitarian problems and — everybody’s favorite Palestinian pasttime — “institution building.”
“We know how to build institutions,” Hanan Ashrawi told me. “We need an empowered peacemaker and a credible substantive peace process.”
Wolfensohn, Blair’s predecessor who resigned in frustration in May 2006 after the boycott was slammed on the Hamas-run PA, was fairly powerless. He resigned because he was expected to simply patch up the economic and humanitrian crises in the Palestinian territories but wasn’t given a mandate to address the political issues that lie at the root of those problems.
Blair is an international heavyweight. He has Bush’s backing and he is not accepting this post to tinker with tariffs. He is an ambitious, high powered, high level envoy and this could be a shot in the arm for the peace process. All that being said, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Goodbye and good luck in your next assignment » blogolob // Jun 27, 2007 at 7:10 pm
[…] Sunday Telegraph Mideast Correspondent, Charles Levinson makes the essential point on his excellent blog ‘Conflict Blotter’: …But looking at Blair’s history as a […]
2 Rattling the Kettle // Jun 27, 2007 at 9:01 pm
While I concede Ms. Ashrawi’s underlying point, I beg to differ with the way she makes it. The Palestinians, quite clearly, do *not* know how to build institutions.
3 TAFKAS // Jun 27, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Blair is expected to operate according to the Wolfensohn-model: http://www.senate.gov/~foreign/testimony/2005/WolfensohnTestimony050630.pdf
If this will be the basis of his work, some small adjustments, I can not see a reason why we should not give him the chance. [Other things, like “operates with a small team of experts sounds good, except that we not know yet, what “experts” he can get..]
PS: Germany noticed some very intresting meetings of german socialists with Fatah-politicians in 2007 and especially in the last days. Blair has some second-row friends in the EU that can do a lot of work for him. Fatah-politicians will receive invitations and money and its up to them to see the chance to receive the status of an accepted party.
4 Jeff Weintraub // Jun 28, 2007 at 7:22 pm
“We know how to build institutions,” Hanan Ashrawi told me. “We need an empowered peacemaker and a credible substantive peace process.”
=> Fatah knows how to build institutions? If only that were true! (And if Hamas turns out to be more effective at institution-building, that makes peace less likely, not more likely.) I’m afraid “Rattling the Kettle” is right.
5 German // Jun 28, 2007 at 10:53 pm
U.S. says Blair’s Mideast role will be limited. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/28/news/blair.php
… To understand Hanan Ashrawi.
6 Enteral therapy // Jul 20, 2007 at 2:39 am
Hindoestanen…
Adenomatosis Emperor Gohorikawa of Japan Borrowdale Volcanic Series Timothy Montgomery P. T. Bauer Blue-chip Harry B. Whittington List of Tehran parks Joseph-Diaz Gergonne Enteral therapy …
7 Francis Sellers Collins // Jul 26, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Victory_Junction_Gang_Camp…
Edmund Banfield E943a Saint Louis Billikens men’s soccer Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy Raanana Manapla, Negros Occidental Earl of Seafield Ghatlodiya Thierry Zéno Francis Sellers Collins …
Leave a Comment