NEWS, 1st March 2009: OK – he’s finally got to Gaza. I’ll write about it later, when I’m sure he’s back out. Don’t underestimate the security risks, critics. There are some prizes some people would do ANYTHING to win.
- All Contents of Site – Index
- Tony Blair’s Office on his cancelled Gaza trip
- Blair’s interview at Ma’an News Agency – Mr Blair says “visit postponed”
- Peace in the M.E. – Blair’s “lost hope” OR simple “misinterpresentationalism”
- Did online “Soldiers of God” call for “action not words” against Blair?
- Watch my video of Blair’s ‘Impossible Dream’
Comment at end
15th July, 2008
BLAIR TRIP TO GAZA OFF – “A SPECIFIC SECURITY THREAT”
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip – Mideast envoy Tony Blair on Tuesday called off what would have been the first visit of a top Western diplomat to Hamas-ruled Gaza, after Israel’s Shin Bet security service told he might come under attack there.
The Shin Bet security service said it had received “pinpoint information that Palestinians were planning to attack Blair in Gaza, so the relevant services alerted him to the fact.”
Palestinian Police loyal to Hamas and UN staff leave Beit Lahiya in Northern Gaza after Tony Blair's trip is cancelled due to security threats against him
NO SOONER “ON” THAN “OFF”
Last night there were several news releases online on the expected first visit of Middle East envoy Tony Blair (and any international diplomat or statesman) to Gaza since Hamas took over last year. The trip was meant to take place today.
I was wary about using this news item or referring to it here for several reasons and decided against it. For a start the source of the original press release raised my concerns.
It was not from the UN, nor the Quartet, nor Mr Blair’s office, nor the Israelis, but from Hamas itself. To be quite blunt I do not see Mr Blair publicising such a trip willingly. There are too many security issues, not only for him personally and his entourage but for others in Gaza while he is there. We should always be aware that the nearer we get to a settlement in that region the more likely a top politician will be taken out of the scene permanently. There are many examples of this. So the least said the better. But Hamas seemed to be – well – jumping the gun, playing politics, scoring points, informing militants – take your choice. If none of these, it would have been more politic to wait until after Mr Blair had been and gone, surely?
Throw into that mix the likelihood that Israel was not happy about this meeting. Hamas, they argue, is looking to score points as the legitimate power in Gaza, and not a banned terrorist organisation. A visit by Mr Blair would legitimise them, in Israel’s opinion. Mr Blair has already had some well-publicised differences with Israel over their blockade removal, continuing building and slow progress in allowing building materials through into Gaza.
Add to that Mr Blair’s comments on visiting Gaza just a month ago to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee report.
So whether it is a security risk, a reality check or a political quiver that we are seeing right now is hard to decipher; indeed it could be all three.
SKY News video on the course of events leading to the abandonment of the Gaza visit
Associated Press TV coverage
Palestinian sources, yesterday:
Official sources reported that the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will have a tour around the schools of the United Nations Agency for Relief and employing the Palestinian refugees UNRWA in Northern the Gaza Strip and will meet with the manager of the UNRWA operations in the district John Jing and other Palestinian independent figures.
Official sources pointed out that Blair will reopen the next phase in the sewage project in Beit Lahia City in the northern Gaza Strip during his 3 hours duration visit.
It should be noted that this is the first visit for a high standard foreign official to The Gaza Strip since the Hamas movement took over the situations in the Gaza Strip since last June.
Mr Blair was not due to meet with Hamas on this trip. But it is always possible that his very going might have been a trip too far for Israel, or even for Mr Abbas the Palestinian Authority President. Having said that the Israelis and Palestinians would have known of his intended trip.
Many have said that Mr Blair’s task was the impossible dream, and perhaps it is. But unless he meets with at least some of the people concerned on all sides and makes real, tangible progress on the ground what exactly is the point in wasting his negotiating talents there?
We surely cannot go on indefinitely deal-making at arms’ length.
The next time we hear the words ‘Blair visits Gaza’ I would like it to be after the event. The positive event, when Mr Blair is safely out of the region and when Israel and others have come to terms with all he is trying to do. THEN we will see results.
Other reports, and conspiracy theories on Blair’s on/off Gaza trip
Blair spokeswoman – “we had to turn back on the road”
Threat or No Threat – Barak warned Blair, Hamas accuses Israel of unjustified scaremongering.
The Jerusalem Post says that Blair was informed by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, diplomatic officials said, then called the envoy and detailed the seriousness of the risk. “The level of the threat was explained to Blair, although he was told that if he wanted to go to Gaza Israel would not prevent him,” a security official said.
Perhaps Mr Blair thought it wiser to listen to another former PM than to take Hamas’s assurances regarding the security they had put in place.
Time seems to think Mr Abbas is sulking(!), so would have been happy to see Blair’s trip aborted. Excerpt:
‘Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas can’t have been too pleased about it, either. Abbas is already playing second banana to Hamas in Gaza and is sulking over the fact that Hamas in large part has managed to keep up its end of the bargain and stop militants from lobbing rockets into southern Israel –-upping their credibility among Palestinians and Arab states. Abbas’s Fatah militia still has many sympathizers in Gaza capable of carrying out mischief –-or worse– against Blair.’
I added a comment at Time, by the way.
Sky News – threat came from a “local group” and not Hamas. Excerpt:
‘Sources have told Sky that Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service told Mr Blair about the threat last night. The Quartet – the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations – appointed Mr Blair to the envoy post a year ago with an economic focus to bolster chances for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal this year.’
Mr Blair had been expected to tour an internationally funded project in the northern Gaza Strip.
Senior members of his staff arrived at Israel’s Erez Crossing with the Gaza Strip in the morning and waited there for two hours before the cancellation was announced.
It was not immediately clear if Mr Blair was with them.
An Israeli liaison official said Israel had not barred Mr Blair’s convoy from entering Gaza, where an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire with Hamas has been in effect since June 19.
Fox News says that an explosives attack was planned.
The Shin Bet security service said it had received “information that Palestinians were planning to attack Blair in Gaza, so the relevant services alerted him to the fact.”
They say the information about the attack was “detailed and credible.” Militants planned to attack Blair’s convey with explosives while he was traveling in Gaza.
Bloomberg report:
Blair would have been the most senior Western official to visit Gaza since the Islamic militant Hamas group seized power in June 2007. He didn’t immediately arrange another date for his visit, John Ging, operations director for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said in a telephone interview.
This is great, from Israel International News:
According to the Associated Press, “Although the once lawless Gaza has been mostly pacified under Hamas’ stern rule, there are still shadowy extremist Muslim groups in the territory. On an Islamist forum popular with Gaza residents, some users slammed Blair’s expected visit, but there were no direct threats of violence against him. Those comments were later removed from the Web site.”
NOTE from the ED: I’m trying to work this out. Firstly, Gaza has been mostly pacified? Secondly, the Islamist forum removed the comments although there were no direct threats against Blair. So would they have left them online if there had been threats? Sorry, I’m struggling with this one. It’s hard to understand what freedom of speech is all about these days, don’t you find?
The Telegraph says:
Tony Blair has been forced to abandon a visit to Gaza today because of specific threats to his life.
Mr Blair’s convoy first delayed a planned 9am arrival, then, as it approached Israel’s Erez crossing into the often-turbulent strip, turned back to Jerusalem after being told of the threat.
In Gaza, the cancellation created long faces among 10 of the strip’s top businessmen and human rights activists, who waited in a UN school classroom for nearly four hours before they were told the meeting had been postponed.
John Ging, head of the UN’s refugee agency in Gaza, was visibly downcast as he announced that Mr Blair would not be arriving. He said he had been personally satisfied with the security arrangements.
“He was actually en route, already here at the crossing point, but we much regret he has had to return to Jerusalem,” Mr Ging said.
Dozens of checkpoints forced the rerouting of traffic on Gaza’s main thoroughfares and truckloads of Hamas security men armed with AK47s roamed the streets, though they kept a reasonable distance from the planned sites of Mr Blair’s visit,.
A Hamas spokesman angrily denied any threat existed. “The story of security threats was only an Israeli invention to prevent the visit,” said Sami Abu Zuhri. “Blair should not have accepted these silly allegations.”
Mr Blair’s spokesman said another attempt will be made to visit Gaza, though when is unclear.
My thoughts on this: The usual suspects are coming up with the inevitable conspiracy theories for this cancelled trip. Well, they would, wouldn’t they?
I believe it is no more than a postponement. Mr Blair will be back in Gaza some time soon.
That aside, I’m glad the timing of another possible visit is ‘unclear’. And so it should be. Threats of death will not put Tony Blair off. He is always under such threats. Next time, we need to hear about a Gaza trip after he’s been there, done the business, seen the right people, and is out of there safely. How they manage to keep such a trip secret is going to be a challenge but is surely not beyond his brightest advisers. For a start, next time they need to make sure Hamas is committed to keeping the whole thing quiet. No press releases at all, not even just beforehand!
It should be suggested to Hamas that they ask the people who were disappointed this time to stand by at short notice. If Hamas announces to the press yet again that he’s coming, there will be, yet again, another last minute plot on his life. We can be sure of that. That’s the way of things in Gaza today. Hamas can prove they are serious about peace by behaving as they should, knowing the dangers as they do. Softly does it.
Or would Hamas prefer that someone else be allowed to hang a high-profile western scalp on their belts? That’d do wonders for peace in the region, I’m sure! Not that I’m accusing anyone, mind you! Would I ever?
The video below was inspired by the song and Blair’s thankless task in the Middle East.
My video of Tony Blair, Middle East Peace Envoy’s “Impossible Dream”
Do you think the threat was real? Or did Israel make it up? Vote here. (Closed now. 83% agreed it was a real threat)
Tags: 1. Tony Blair, Gaza trip off, Israel unhappy Hamas Blair Gaza, specific security concerns, tony blair middle east envoy prime minister quartet
July 16, 2008 at 9:03 pm |
Ukraine: I can see you get Google Alerts too, Margaret. Useful, aren’t they?
By doing this we can keep track of what he’s up to. I don’t recall this being reported in our mainstream press, do you?
And if he ends up becoming EU president after all, it’ll be largely due to the fact that he’s getting around the parts of Europe other politicians seldom touch.
Cheers!
It all helps.
July 16, 2008 at 9:21 pm |
yes i get google also yahoo and youtube searches by the way for anyone who’s interested both sky’s and associated pressreport on blair’s near excusion to gaza .their both mind you not very good with information and very short
July 16, 2008 at 9:32 pm |
Margaret – been giving the press release correction some thought. As with much in politics I’ve concluded it’s more “cock-up” than “conspiracy”. It’s all in the translation.
See my new page here.
http://keeptonyblairforpm.wordpress.com/blairs-lost-hope-or-simple-misinterpresentationalism/
July 17, 2008 at 9:41 pm |
the european parliament now thinks that blair not going to gaza is against his duty and he is not determined to succeed.how little do they know him. after all it took 10 yrs of determination to have peace in ireland