Dubai
The news of Tony Blair’s resignation from his post as Middle East peace envoy has been welcomed by many Arabs, especially considering the former British premier’s role in the devastating 2003 war on Iraq, his lack of achievements in the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, and his controversial business contracts and interests.
Blair is stepping down next month after eight years during which he represented the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators — the UN, the EU, Russia and the US.
“It is a long-awaited resignation and it came too late,” said Mahdi Abdul Hadi, Palestinian political scientist and founder of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs.
“People are happy he is leaving. He never [played the role]. He never filled the post from a Palestinian perspective and was echoing Israeli positions all the time,” Abdul Hadi, who is based in occupied East Jerusalem, told Gulf News.
‘Good news’
“This is good news among the bad,” said Mustafa Kamel Al Sayed, an Egyptian political science professor based in Cairo. “Choosing Blair for this position was a bad idea in the first place” because of his “total bias towards Israel.”
Moreover, the former British premier’s name “was linked to lying to the British public about [weapons of mass destruction]” before the 2003 war on Iraq to oust Saddam Hussain’s regime.
Yesterday, The Guardian quoted sources as saying Blair had confirmed his resignation in a letter sent to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Blair also said in the letter he “will ‘remain active on the issues and in the region”, and he is “fully committed to assisting the international community in its work with Israel and the Palestinians to bring about progress on the two-state solution,’” the source said.
However, Al Sayed said: “Blair has not achieved anything in the past years and was not expected to do so because achieving progress in the Palestinian issue necessitates putting some pressure, at least moral pressure, on Israel, and this was completely ignored by Mr Blair.”
After being appointed peace envoy, Blair won a million-dollar prize from the Dan David Foundation, based at Tel Aviv University in 2009.
He received the award for “his exceptional leadership and steadfast determination in helping to engineer agreements and forge lasting solutions to areas in conflict”.
When he was prime minister, the UK went to war five times in six years.
Blair’s financial interests were also criticised. The former labour leader is believed to earn tens of millions of dollars through advising a number of foreign governments and financial institutions. The Guardian pointed out: “When he [Blair] persuaded the Israelis to release electromagnetic frequencies for the Palestinian mobile phone operator Wataniya, it was noted the firm was a client of JP Morgan bank, for which Blair also worked as a consultant”.
Blair’s decision to step down was “long overdue”, The Guardian quoted Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding as saying.
