The conflict in the Middle East is about as deeply entrenched and intractable as conflict gets. It is going to take a peacemaker of unparallelled skill, whose integrity and impartiality cannot be called into question by either side, to have any hope of sorting it out. So who are the Quartet sending? The man who started a war there, who lied to his own people and to Parliament in order to do so, and who has backed one side against the other consistently throughout his premiership. The ideal candidate!
We found out on July 7th 2005 what Muslim opinion thought of Tony Blair's Middle Eastern policy - they oppose it so vehemently that some of them are prepared to blow themselves up just to kill a few of his countrymen. How can anybody expect them to take this appointment as anything but (another) slap in the face?
Conflicts arise in many cases - and are prolonged in many more - because neither side listens to the complaints, legitimate or otherwise, of the other. The Palestinians are the very epitome of a people whose plight gets neither attention nor sympathy from the rest of the world. Their reaction is totally predictable. One cannot condone rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, but the anger and frustration which those attacks express is entirely understandable.
When South Africa practiced apartheid, the black population, angry, frustrated and oppressed, at least had the consolation of the moral support of most of the rest of the world. When Israel - of all nations - practices apartheid on the Palestinians, nobody seems to care; indeed, the Western governments have joined in, putting pressure on the Palestinians to negate the results of their own election (in the name of democracy!).
Blair's appointment will not only do no good; by reinforcing the sense of injustice of the Palestinians and increasing their sense that the world is against them it will make peace even more difficult to reach. The Israelis too will take it -correctly - as an endorsement of their policy of making Gaza and the West Bank into giant concentration camps.
The irony is that Blair is so delusional that he probably thinks he can bring peace as he did in Northern Ireland. Can we hope that his inevitable failure will cut through the fog to the extent that he will admit it, unlike Iraq? Who knows? If it were not for the tragedy his failure will represent I would add: Who cares?
Maybe Blair took the Quartet job to give him some protection from being charged with war crimes by a country with a conscience - if there is such an entity - while on his travels around the world.
Posted by: Les | June 29, 2007 at 09:21 AM
1. The terrorists attacks of June 2005 were not a result of Blair's foreign policy...Hizb ut-Tahrir and other such organisations have been encouraging violence long before TB came to power. Blaming TB for the attacks is an outrage and is another example of trying to remove responsiblity and blame from the twisted people who commit such barbarous acts. By making the bombers secondary you belittle them and their misguided beliefs.
2. "Palestinians get no attention or sympathy" - The Palestinians gets an incredible amount of aid from around the world. Indeed the US has just pledged to provide another $80m for state apparatus. And contrary to what many believe, the restriction of tax revenues after Hamas came to power, did not lead to a reduction in the amount of aid the Palestinians received.
3. Apartheid? Actually learn about the situation in South Africa before making such ridiculous comments. One example: the slogan was "One man, One vote." The Palestinians living inside Israel have the vote.
Another example: there are Palestinians in the Israeli Parliament (knesset) and a Palestinian High Court Judge.
Yes, the Palestinian towns get less govt funding, and this is wrong and needs to be changed.However, i doubt you can tell me of a country where there is not at least one minority that is underfunded by their govt.
4. WB and Gaza - "giant concentration camps". I think you have given your game away with that comment. Using vocabularly and imagery that is particularly raw with the Jewish People, and then using it to attack the Jewish State is an ill-disguised form of anti-Semitism. I do not believe that disagreeing with the policies of Israel is anti-Semitism, but using such sensitive language is completely inappropriate.
5. In any case the comparison is ridiculous. In concentration camps, prisoners were forced to work, often to their death. Anyone who claims this is going on in Gaza or the WB is ignorant beyound belief.
6. Why be so negative? There is a lot of high profile diplomacy occuring at the moment, and I look forward to the day (hopefully soon) where an independant Palestine and a secure Israel live side-by-side in peace. (the sentiments expressed in this article and elsewhere only exacerbates Israeli security concerns, leading them to believe that much of the world is unjustly against them, and thus encouraging them to retreat into a shell)
Good Luck Mr Blair...dont listen to those who say you wont succeed.
Posted by: Zac | August 08, 2007 at 03:10 PM