THE former prime minister of UK, Tony Blair, appears to have been approved by the Palestinian Authority to be involved in the reconstruction of Gaza, after a meeting in Jordan, The Guardian reported.
Blair met Hussein al-Sheikh, the deputy president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee, in the Jordanian capital on Sunday.
Hamas, which has said it will not have a future role in the government of Gaza, has opposed Blair’s involvement and the idea that any board should act as foreign guardian for Palestine state.
In a statement, al-Sheikh said: “Today, I met Mr Tony Blair to discuss the day after the war and making President Trump’s efforts, which aim at stopping the war and establishing lasting peace in the region, a success. We have confirmed our readiness to work with President Trump, Mr Blair and the partners to consolidate the ceasefire, the entry of aid, the release of hostages and prisoners, and then start with the recovery and reconstruction.”
Hamas has opposed ex-UK PM’s involvement and the idea that any board should act as guardian for Palestinian state
“We stressed the importance of stopping the undermining of the PA, and especially the return of withheld Palestinian revenues, and preventing the undermining of the two-state solution in preparation for a comprehensive and lasting peace in accordance with international legitimacy,” he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
The PA is keen that tax revenues withheld by the Israeli government are released, since this is preventing salary payments and undermining its liquidity, in violation of the Oslo accords.
Israel has also threatened not to renew next month the annual waiver of terrorist financing laws, which allows Israeli banks to process transactions with Palestinian banks.
Sharhabeel al-Zaeem, the PA’s justice minister, last week criticised Blair’s involvement, saying: “Is this the independent Palestinian state we are aiming for? All these struggles for all these years in order to have Mr Blair, who failed in London, who failed in Britain, who failed in Iraq, come and — with all due respect at a personal level to Mr Blair — be our guardian as if we were minors?”
Talking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travelled to Israel on Monday, Trump questioned whether Blair would be popular enough with other leaders to serve on the board that the US president envisages overseeing the governance of Gaza.
