Former British PM Tony Blair emerges as potential figure in post-war Gaza
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Former British prime minister Tony Blair has been trying to build support for a plan that would create a Gaza International Transitional Authority.
PHOTO: ANDREW TESTA/NYTIMES
Mark Landler
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LONDON – Mr Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, has emerged as a potential figure in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
He has been trying to build support for a plan that would create a Gaza International Transitional Authority, a UN-mandated administration that would include a multinational security force to stabilise the war-torn enclave.
Now he has emerged as a candidate to head that authority.
After President Donald Trump released details of the proposal for Gaza
He added in a social media post that it offered “the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering”.
For Mr Blair, the Middle East has been one of the most consistent, if contentious, chapters in a busy career after Downing Street.
He served for eight years as the envoy for the Quartet, a diplomatic group composed of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia that tried, with little success, to broker a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
His appointment, which came immediately after he stepped down as prime minister in 2007, was divisive from the outset because of his support for President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq, as well as his close relations with Israel, which led many Palestinians to distrust him.
But Mr Blair has also worked closely with Arab leaders, including those of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, through his non-profit organisation, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
He defended his ties to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite evidence that the Saudi royal had been responsible for the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“I don’t think any of us who believe we should engage with Saudi Arabia has ever dialled back our disapproval of that,” Mr Blair said in an interview in 2024.
“But I do think that what is happening in Saudi Arabia is a social revolution which has immense and positive implications for our security, and for the Middle East.”
Mr Blair pointed in that interview to the negotiations among Saudi Arabia, the US and Israel over normalising relations as proof of the value of engaging with autocratic leaders such Crown Prince Mohammed.
Those talks have been put on hold by the war in Gaza. NYTIMES
