Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Canada’s leader Mark Carney and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are among the members of the “Board of Peace” that will oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, reported Reuters.
Blair was UK prime minister from 1997 to 2007 and took the UK into the Iraq War in 2003. After leaving office, he served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of international powers (the US, EU, Russia and the UN).
Economic Development
In this role, he focused on bringing economic development to Palestine and creating the conditions to move towards a two state-solution.
The establishment of the board, chaired by US President Donald Trump, is a key step in the United Nationsbacked American plan to demilitarise and rebuild the enclave, that was ravaged by two years of war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will also sit on the “founding executive board”, the White House said in a statement on January 16, adds BBC. Trump will act as chairman of the board, which forms part of his 20-point plan to end the war between Israel and Hamas.
Also on the founding executive board are Marc Rowan, the head of a private equity firm, World Bank chief Ajay Banga and a US national security adviser, Robert Gabriel.
Each member would have a portfolio “critical to Gaza’s stabilisation and long-term success”, the White House statement said.
Trump had said on January 15 that the board had been formed, calling it the “Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place”.
High-level meeting
Blair had already been a part of high-level talks about Gaza’s future with the US and other parties. In August, he joined a White House meeting with Trump to discuss plans for the territory, which Witkoff described as “very comprehensive”. In September, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC that involving Blair in such talks, given his record on the Iraq War, would “raise some eyebrows”.
But Streeting also noted the former prime minister’s role in brokering the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to end Northern Ireland’s Troubles.
“If he can bring those considerable skills there, in both diplomacy and state craft,” Streeting told the BBC, “that can only be a good thing”.