The question of what will happen to Gaza once the Israel-Hamas war finally ends is top of mind for many – and it appears that the answer may lie with Sir Tony Blair.
The former prime minister, who left office in 2007 when David Cameron’s Conservatives ousted Labour is not only very keen to help govern the Strip, but is said to have won the backing of major players including US President Donald Trump and several Gulf leaders.
Sources involved in the project say that Blair’s plan would see him head up a body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority (Gita) according to The Economist.
Blair’s organisation – which would be bankrolled by Gulf states – is said to be modelled on the international administrations that oversaw East Timor and Kosovo’s transitions to statehood. The body would seek a UN mandate to be Gaza’s “supreme political and legal authority” for five years, and would be made up of a secretariat of up to 25 people with a seven-person board to oversee an executive body running the territory.
Crucially, the plan appears to have received Trump’s stamp of approval following a meeting in August where Blair, alongside Jared Kushner and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, presented the proposal to the president. Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs who is a close confidant of Prime Minister Netanyahu, is said to have joined the meeting by phone.
A source close to Blair – who served as a special envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet of international powers (the US, EU, Russia and the UN) from 2007 to 2015 – told The Economist: “He’s willing to sacrifice his time. He genuinely wants to end the war.”
Although Trump is said to be onboard with Blair’s plan, it was also reported this week that US president had himself presented a “21-point peace plan” to Arab and Muslim leaders at the UN during a meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
"We had a very productive session. We presented what we call the Trump 21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza,” Witkoff revealed, adding: “I think it addresses Israeli concerns and, as well, the concerns of all the neighbours in the region.
"We're hopeful, and I might say, even confident that in the coming days, we'll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.”
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