Tony
Blair: A True Friend Of Israel
By Arjan El Fassed
30 June, 2007
The
Electronic Intifada
"A
true friend of the State of Israel," said Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert of his outgoing British counterpart Tony Blair. He was appointed
this week as special envoy for the Middle East Quartet with a portfolio
focused on Palestinian economic and political reform. "Tony Blair
is a very well-appreciated figure in Israel," said Israeli Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni. According to an Israeli government statement,
Israel "will provide [him] with all necessary assistance in order
for him to carry out his duties."
It should not come as a surprise
that Israeli government officials welcome Blair to his new job. Although
he has long claimed to be interested in supporting justice for the Palestinians,
Blair has an unremitting record of bias towards Israel. After George
W. Bush, Blair is probably the most disliked and distrusted individual,
among Palestinians as well as in the Arab world in general. This stems
not only from his role in the Iraq war, but because he has swallowed
the neoconservative agenda whole, becoming one of the leading proponents
of a "clash of civilizations" between a supposedly enlightened
West and a backward Islamic world.
All the language of Blair's
appointment describes the conflict not as one generated by Israeli occupation
and colonialism -- something a more courageous former leader Jimmy Carter
has characterized as "apartheid" -- but one of Palestinian
failure, and a need for "institutional reform." This suits
Israel perfectly because Blair, with his fake pro-Palestinian tones,
is actually helping Israel to blame the victim by changing the subject
from the brutal Israeli military rule that makes normal Palestinian
life imposssible.
Blair's anti-Palestinian
bias began early in his political career. During his time as prime minister,
Blair regularly consulted a pro-Israel lobby group, Labour Friends of
Israel (LFI). He has been close to this group ever since he became a
member of parliament fourteen years ago. In his speech to the LFI Annual
Reception in September 2006, Blair said: "I have never actually
found it hard to be friend of Israel, I am proud to be a friend of Israel."
[1]
One of Blair's early supporters
was Michael Levy, a staunch supporter of Israel's policies against Palestinians,
a former board member of the Jewish Agency and active in various Jewish
charities in Britain. Levy began to support Blair's private office from
his own pocket. He has since raised millions of pounds for the Labour
Party. Levy's fundraising efforts for Blair eventually paid off when
Blair became Prime Minister. First appointed an envoy by Tony Blair
after the 1997 election, Levy -- later nicknamed "Lord Cashpoint"
-- has helped to develop a strongly pro-Israel line from Blair's office.
[2] Three years later, Levy was appointed Tony Blair's personal envoy
to the Middle East. In July 2006 and again in January of this year,
Levy was arrested in connection with allegations that Labour Party supporters
were offered honors in return for loans and donations. With the resignation
of Tony Blair today, Levy also steps down. Commenting on Levy's resignation,
Richard Spring, a Conservative spokesman on foreign affairs, told The
Independent: "I welcome his departure. We have some of the most
skilled and distinguished diplomats in the world and they have been
humiliated and sidelined by Lord Levy's antics in the Middle East. He
has caused great embarrassment for this country." [3]
Blair's portfolio as Quartet
envoy does not come as a surprise. In February 2005, Blair organized
a one-day meeting between Palestinian leaders with senior officials
from thirty countries. [4] The aim of the conference was to outline
and support Palestinian political, financial and security reform. When
Blair first spoke of hosting a conference in December 2004, Palestinian
leaders hoped it would focus on political issues and the peace process.
But there was little support for that from Israel and the US and Israel
did not even attend the conference, demonstrating how little influence
Blair had on Israel even as prime minister.
At the time Israeli forces
invaded Nablus, Jenin and other Palestinian towns and villages during
Israel's "Operation Defensive Shield" in April 2002, Tony
Blair visited his closest ally George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas. "We
agree that the Palestinian leadership must order an immediate and effective
cease-fire and crackdown on terrorist networks," Bush said. "And
we agree that Israel should halt incursions in the Palestinian-controlled
areas and begin to withdraw without delay from those cities it has recently
occupied." Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon later told the Americans
he understood their desires for Israel to end its operations in the
"territories." A statement from Sharon's office said the prime
minister told Bush that Israel "is conscious of the American desire
to see the operation ended quickly." [5] His office also said the
prime minister had pledged to "speed up" the offensive, not
end it. Asked their plans if Israel does not withdraw, both leaders
declined to address the issue. "I believe that Israel will heed
the words of President Bush," Blair said, "and will do so
knowing that he speaks as a friend to Israel."
In the summer of 2006, during
the first week of August, just before he would meet Bush in Washington,
cabinet ministers were pressing Blair to break with the policy of the
American administration and publicly criticize Israel over the scale
of death and destruction in Lebanon. A week earlier, Jack Straw, former
Foreign Office Minister, said that while he "grieved for the innocent
Israelis killed" he also mourned the "ten times as many innocent
Lebanese men, women and children killed by Israeli fire." Blair
took the line of the US and two other Israel allies in the EU, Germany
and the Netherlands, by refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire
and waiting for an UN resolution. In an interview with Sky News that
same week, Blair answered the question whether he was too close to the
White House by stating, "I will never apologize for Britain being
a strong ally of the US." [6] Three months ago, former US ambassador
to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that the US deliberately resisted
calls for a immediate ceasefire during the Lebanon war. He said the
US decided to join efforts to end the conflict only when it was clear
Israel's campaign wasn't working.
At the G8 summit in St. Petersburg
as Israel's war on Lebanon raged, Bush and Blair were caught on an open
microphone talking about whether US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
should head to the region, or whether Blair should go himself. [7] Blair
said to Bush, "If she goes out, she's got to succeed, as it were,
whereas I can just go out and talk."
That is exactly what Blair's
new function will be. He can just go out and talk. The Middle East Quartet
-- in the words of Alvaro de Soto, "a group of friends of the US"
-- wants Blair to operate according to the model of the previous envoy,
James Wolfensohn. In his leaked End of Mission Report [8], De Soto,
who was the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
and envoy to the Quartet, wrote that Blair's predecessor Wolfensohn
was first introduced by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a
US special envoy. "The terms of reference originally proposed would
have given Wolfensohn a writ, essentially covering the entire peace
process, much wider than the narrower one that emerged." De Soto
also noticed that Wolfensohn's mission "began to run aground after
his attempts to broker an agreement on access and movement were intercepted
-- some would say hijacked -- at the last minute by the US envoys and
ultimately Rice herself." This does not look good for Tony Blair.
Wolfensohn left the scene with "a more jaundiced view of Israel
(and US) policies than he had upon entering."
It is hard to escape the
impression that Blair -- despised at home and saddled with the weight
of Iraq -- is still seeking a way to salvage a "legacy." Yet
it is hard to imagine a person lesson suited to be a peace envoy to
the Middle East.
In the meantime, one shouldn't
expect much from Britain's new prime minister Gordon Brown. Britain,
together with Germany and the Netherlands, traditionally supports Israel
within European political debates. This will not change. Brown has not
shown much interest in the issue and policy experts do not expect Britain
to play a major role. Israel is content with not only Blair's appointment
as new Quartet special envoy but also the appointment of Simon McDonald,
a former British ambassador to Israel, as Brown's foreign policy advisor.
Israeli officials see McDonald as "friend of Israel." According
to the Israeli daily Haaretz, McDonald has been considered one of the
most influential foreign envoys posted to Israel, and one well-connected
to Israeli decision-makers. Though the faces may change, Britian's one-sided
policy line remains the same.
Arjan El Fassed is a cofounder
of The Electronic Intifada
Footnotes
[1] Speech by PM Tony Blair to LFI Annual Reception (26 September 2006).
[2] Michael Levy: Lord Cashpoint, Paul Vallely, The Independent (18
March 2006); Lord Levy: Labour's fundraiser, BBC News (6 March 2007);
"Blair's chance to raise cash for Pounds 1m refund", Andrew
Pierce, The Times (18 November 1997); "British Jewish vote undergoes
shift as Labor Party modifies Israel stance", Richard Allen Green,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (8 May 2001); Blair's meeting with Arafat
served to disguise his support for Sharon and the Zionist project, John
Pilger, New Statesman (14 January 2002).
[3] Lord Levy to quit envoy role when Blair stands down as PM, Colin
Brown, The Independent (24 May 2007).
[4] London Meeting on Supporting the Palestinian Authority, Foreign
& Commonwealth Office (1 March 2005).
[5] President Bush, Prime Minister Blair Hold Press Conference, Office
of the Press Secretary (6 April 2002); Sharon Says He Will Expedite
Israeli Military Offensive, CNN Breaking News (6 April 2002); Pull back,
Bush orders Sharon, Peter Beaumont, The Observer (7 April 2002).
[6] Cabinet in open revolt over Blair's Israel policy, The Observer
(30 July 2006).
[7] Transcript: Bush and Blair's unguarded chat, BBC News (18 July 2006)
[8] End of Mission Report (PDF) Alvaro de Soto (May 2007).
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