“War criminals are proposing a war criminal as head of…. Gaza.” That was the verdict of former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis responding to the mooted role of mass murderer Tony Blair in leading a transitional authority in the devastated territory.

The former British prime minister (PM) has been selected by US president Donald Trump as part of a ‘Board of Peace’, which will be chaired by the latter. The group will be responsible for governing Gaza, should Hamas accept a 20 point plan put forward by the US genocidaire-in-chief. The proposals envisage a complete cessation of the genocide, referred to as a “war” in the text, with a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces. However, in textbook style, Netanyahu immediately addressed his deranged society to emphasise the permanence of Israeli Genocide Forces (IGF) within Gaza. Hebrew apparently exists in a frequency outside the hearing range of Western journalists, and therefore like all such comments, these remarks have largely gone unreported in the mainstream press.

Fawning Streeting talks up potential Blair role

One person Britain’s highly admired journalists have been listening to is health secretary Wes Streeting, who salivated at the prospect of Blair, a man despised across West Asia, taking on a governance role in Palestine. Streeting cited the former PM’s role in the Northern Ireland peace process as grounds for his suitability, telling LBC:

I also think about Tony Blair’s other legacy, great legacy, which is Northern Ireland, and there he showed that he could bring together sworn enemies to broker a lasting peace.

So if Tony Blair can put those skills to use, if he’s got the confidence of both the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the regional players, as seems to be the case, then great. If he can make that contribution, and that can be another legacy, a positive legacy under his belt, then so much the better.

It’s correct that Blair did play a positive role in forging the Good Friday Agreement, as one of successive British leaders who had finally recognised the dead-end centuries of colonial violence represented. The peace deal has proven far from perfect, however, with 55% of the Six Counties population saying it needs to be modified. The deal has effectively institutionalised the sectarian divide, with the enforced representation of both ‘communities’ – nationalist and unionist – in government posts often creating fractious stand-offs. Non-aligned parties end up sidelined, and the bitter hostility between the primary opposing factions has led to multiple collapses of the Stormont executive.

Streeting acknowledged the incongruity of Blair taking up such a role in West Asia, saying “it would raise some eyebrows.” He also recognised that the decision to invade Iraq was a “catastrophic error” that had “devastating consequences.” Up to 1 million Iraqis are estimated to have been murdered by Blair and his co-conspirators, which a reasonable person might say leaves open to question his respect for the wellbeing of Arab people.

Blair’s disastrous plan revealed in full

The plan concocted by Blair for running Gaza ought to reinforce that notion. Revealed in full for the first time by Haaretz on Sunday September 28, the document imagines a Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA) with a board populated mainly by assorted super-rich ghouls, with perhaps the most nauseating being the proposed role of Aryeh Lightstone. The head of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute was a key figure in the creation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a vehicle for sadism that stood out even amidst the Zionist’s entity’s other cruelties. Troops at its death traps disguised as aid sites have gunned down 1000s of starving Palestinians, as they sought food.

Blair’s plan sees various additional layers of government, with Haaretz describing an:

…Executive Secretariat of GITA, which will be the “central administrative hub and implementing organ.” Below that will be five commissioners – one each for humanitarian affairs, reconstruction, legislation and legal, security oversight and coordination with the PA.

At the bottom of the heap would be a Palestinian Executive Authority, responsible for actual policy implementation and service delivery within Gaza., though even this limited involvement for Palestinians would feature a board-appointed CEO.

The plan does at least seem to diminish the IGF’s role in the territory, with security control mainly falling within the remit of an “international stabilisation force.” Nonetheless, the document as a whole appears to be another colonial imposition that blocks Palestinian self-determination.

Elements of the plan appear to have been incorporated into Trump’s 20 point vision, with item nine referencing Blair’s involvement in:

…temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza

Point 15 refers to the “international stabilisation force” from the Blair GITA proposal.

Varoufakis denounces sidelining of UN, ICJ and Palestinians

Varoufakis followed his broadside against the criminal Blair by denouncing the Trump proposals. He cited near absence of UN involvement (they will be confined to aid distribution) and the failure to release all 15,000 Palestinian prisoners held by the Zionist pseudo-state among his objections. Most crucially perhaps, he pointed out how the agreement:

– nullifies the International Court of Justice (which in June 2024 ordered Israel to withdraw immediately and completely from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza), and – abolishes both International Law and the United Nations’ obligation to enforce it

These more substantive objections trump the musings of the moronic Streeting on Tony Blair, whose role – among 1000s of others – in a flawed peace deal 27 years ago can’t disguise his many crimes since.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

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