¡§Jewish Occupation of Palestine is the ROOT Cause of All the ME¡¦s Ills.¡¨
¡§All Previous International Representatives Have Returned Home EMPTY-HANDED,
Because of Israeli Intransigence.¡¨
¡§BLAIR¡¦s Sympathy for Israel Means He is an Instinctive RIGHT-WING
Neo-con.¡¨
¡§Blair Will Be Arriving This Time, as the Proven POODLE of the World's Only
Superpower.¡¨
¡§After Making a DISASTROUS Foreign Policy Decision (Invasion of Iraq), He
Wants to Make a Name for HIMSELF as a Peacemaker.¡¨ - AB
Jun. 27, 2007 1:10 | Updated Jun. 27, 2007 1:17
Analysis: Four Reasons Why Blair is the Perfect Envoy
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1182409649985&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The expected appointment of outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the
international Quartet's new envoy to the Middle East was greeted with a chorus
of skepticism and downright derision by much of the British press on Tuesday.
This reaction can be attributed at least in part to a feeling in Britain that
Blair has outstayed his welcome and that, after more than a decade at 10
Downing Street, he should be heading into the sunset. But much of the hostility
is due to his controversial positions on the Middle East - and mirrors the lack
of enthusiasm of the Russians and part of the European Union leadership at the
Blair appointment - not least because his candidacy was suggested by US
President George W. Bush.
The underlying message of much of the coverage was that Blair is doomed to
failure. There is no way that the Arab nations, and especially the
Palestinians, are going to trust an envoy who was Bush's partner in the war in
Iraq, supported Israel's right to retaliate in Lebanon last summer - blocking
calls for an immediate cease-fire - and has recently been one of the main
proponents of isolating Hamas.
Correspondents in Gaza and Beirut reported on the dismay of the
man-on-the-street at the appointment. But these past positions actually make
Blair the perfect envoy. Here are four reasons why:
h First, it might be a healthy break with tradition to have an envoy
representing, inter alia, the UN and the EU who doesn't instinctively take the
Palestinian side and see Israeli aggression as the root cause of all the
region's ills.
A long line of international representatives have returned home empty-handed,
usually blaming Israeli intransigence. Since that was their position from the
start, it's small wonder that Israeli governments seldom had any inclination to
use their services.
Previous mediators might have been popular with the Palestinians, but it
doesn't seem to have helped them achieve results. But if the problem really is
a lack of Israeli cooperation, then it stands to reason that the envoy should
be someone Jerusalem trusts. And Blair definitely fits that bill. As someone
who has proven himself a true friend, he will be taken seriously, even when he
has less than comfortable tidings to deliver.
h The second reason is that Blair's take on the conflict is much more
complex than his critics are willing to give him credit for. His sympathy for
Israel doesn't mean he is an instinctive right-wing neo-con who thinks former
public security minister Uzi Landau is the only politician worthy of leading
Israel.
Unlike Bush, who almost from the start was hostile to Yasser Arafat, never
inviting him to the White House, Blair's term of office began in the heady
Clinton years, when Oslo still seemed an inevitable process. He welcomed Arafat
to London and was a keen supporter of the Camp David talks. Disillusionment
came much later.
Despite being on friendly terms with all four Israeli prime ministers of the
last decade, two of the Likudniks and one from Kadima, Blair's basic Middle
East positions could most accurately be appraised as somewhere between the
Israeli Labor Party and Meretz. He is the only current Western leader to have
been intimately involved with the region for that long, experiencing euphoria
and despair. He has the necessary sense of perspective.
h The third reason is the support of the Bush administration. In some parts
of Europe, this might be seen as a major drawback, but the fact remains that no
Middle East peace initiative has ever advanced beyond the embryonic stage
without receiving the US stamp of approval early on. No amount of pouting by
Vladimir Putin is going to change this anytime soon.
The masses on the "Arab street" might clamor and curse the great Satan for
doing the Jews' bidding, but ultimately, the Arab leaders respect raw power.
Blair will be arriving this time, not as the leader of a second-rate power but
as the plenipotentiary of the world's only superpower. No other envoy, not even
some of the US's own ambassadors and secretaries of state, have had such
implicit backing from the White House.
h The fourth reason is Blair's personal motivation. After one of the most
extraordinary careers in the history of British politics, the longest-serving
Labor prime minister, the only one to lead it to victory in three consecutive
general elections, he is still only 54, with young children. It would be
perfectly understandable for him to opt for early retirement from public life,
making for the lucrative US lecture circuit, where he can probably command
six-figure fees for a single appearance. He still has to pay 3.5 million for a
large house in London's Connaught Square. His seeming eagerness to undertake a
job that no statesman before him has managed to pull off speaks volumes for his
sincerity.
Blair cannot be accused of naivet . His 10 years in office were characterized
by an addiction to spin, media manipulation, cronyism and political
skullduggery, but at least his actions in this part of the world seem to have
been devoid of opportunism. Blair overcame significant opposition within his
own party and in Britain as a whole to take part in the Iraq war, staying the
course unapologetically until his last day in power despite the near unanimous
verdict that it had fatally marked his premiership.
If anything, the forces he faced in his support for Israel during the Second
Lebanon War were even greater, but Blair was unswerving. There is no question
that it would have been to his political advantage to join the parliamentary
and media chorus condemning Israel's "disproportionate" actions. Instead he
persevered, and many believe that more than any other decision, that was what
forced him to announce his resignation earlier than he originally planned.
Blair has already joined the ranks of David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill,
Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher, British prime ministers who have supported
Zionism and the Jewish state despite ingrained prejudice and anti-Semitism in
part of their country, acting according to their conscience rather than
political expediency. His readiness to prefer a difficult diplomatic mission to
comfortable retirement proves his worthiness once again.
AB ¡V [EMAIL PROTECTED]
First They Came for the EXTREMIST, FUNDAMENTALIST & MODERATE Muslims. And I
DIDN¡¦T Speak Out Because I Wasn't An Extremist, Fundamentalist or a Moderate
Muslim. Then FINALLY They Came for Me the NON-PRACTICING Muslim And NO Muslims
Were Left to Speak Out for ME.
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