Tony Blair to testify at SFRC meeting today - likely on new Middle East plan expected in a month

[karynnj]

or so.


Edited on Wed May-13-09 09:36 PM by karynnj
THE MIDDLE EAST:
THE ROAD TO PEACE
HEARING
before the

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Time: 2:00 P.M.
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Building
Presiding: Senator Kerry


Witnesses:
+ The Right Honorable Tony Blair
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
and Envoy on the Middle East
London, UK


http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090514p.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. So that's where he is now - lucky old you!

I'm happy to have him 3000 miles away from me; wish it was even further.

And there could be few people less suitable for a 'peace envoy' role, especially in the Middle East. Is it relevant here that George Orwell's real name was 'Blair'? War is peace, and all that!

[karynnj]

3. True

The significant thing might be that both the US's and UK's leaders seem to have unambiguously moved to back a two state solution.

I have to admit that it took Blair's actions in 2002 and 2003 to make me see that just because his words war said with a charming British accent did not make them better than the words of our then leader.

[karynnj]

4. What do you think of your current PM on this issue?

[LeftishBrit]

5. I think he is much saner on foreign policy in general than his predecessor.

Not perfect, but doesn't have Tony's imperialistic Mission. So I think I'd trust him a bit more in this respect.

On domestic/economic policy, he is more similar to Tony, Maggie, etc. than I care for; but that is another issue.

[karynnj]

2. Some background information on why this should be an interesting hearing

When Blair stepped down as Prime Minister in June, 2007, he was appointed as Middle East envoy hours later later - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6244358.stm There was concern, particularly by Hamas that he was too close to Israel and the US.

He said then,
"He told MPs: "The absolute priority is to try to give effect to what is now the consensus across the international community - that the only way of bringing stability and peace to the Middle East is a two-state solution."

The UK, like the US, has been seen as leaning too Israel's side and in the British press, there have been mixed reviews of his accomplishments. The Daily Mail, a leftish tabloid, pointed out that France took the lead in ending the hostilities in Gaza and questioned if Blair's costs were worth paying and pointing out that he has spent much time on business activities:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1140615/Tony-Blairs-job-Middle-East-peace-envoy-costs-taxpayers-500-000.html

Here, is a more positive article, where you can see that the British comments on the bombing of Gaza were stronger than American ones at the same time.

Tony Blair will fly to the Middle East next week amid mounting international efforts to broker a fresh ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Britain has condemned the "unacceptable" loss of life caused by the Israeli strikes on Gaza.

<snip>

The former prime minister, who is the envoy for the Quartet made up of the EU, Russia, United States and UN, spent yesterday contacting senior figures including the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, as international pressure for a ceasefire mounted.

<snip>

Asked if the Israeli attacks could be justified, Mr Miliband said: "I think that any innocent loss of life is unacceptable and in this case there have been massive casualties, some of them civilians and some of them children. That is one reason we have called for a ceasefire.

"This is a very dangerous and dark moment, partly because of the lives lost and the humanitarian crisis that exists; partly because of the threat to the chance of the comprehensive peace that is so important for the Palestinians but also for Israel; and partly for the fuel for radicalism that can be argued by some to be the right response."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/blair-visits-middle-east-amid-pressure-to-broker-ceasefire-1216227.html

Interesting Israeli article from last week on what Tony Blair is doing. He and the Obama administration are working on a new Middle Eastern peace plan.

"We're about to get a new framework," Blair said Tuesday evening, adding that he did not know the details. "The reason I say people should be more hopeful, is that this is a framework that is being worked on at the highest level in the American administration, (and) in the rest of the international community."

The Obama administration has promised to work for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It has portrayed a two-state solution as the only way to solve the Mideast conflict and defined it as a U.S. national interest.

President Barack Obama is holding separate meetings at the White House this month with the Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders to hear their views.

Once those meetings are over, the Quartet is to convene in Washington to
discuss and present the new strategy, Blair said. The Quartet includes the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. "I think that within the next five to six weeks, you will have a very clear picture of what the plan is," Blair said.

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/05/obama-administration-quartet-are.html

Although the Bush administration ignored Middle East peace for 6 years, it is important to note that they committed to a two state solution and in the last 2 years did some good work culminating in Annapolis conference last fall. Here is a nice description from Haaretz, a Jewish newspaper which has had some of the best coverage of that area of the world.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority are to announce on Sunday their commitment to continuing talks on the core issues in 2009 after president-elect Barack Obama takes office. The parties have agreed to negotiate based on the principles determined at the Annapolis conference.

<snip>

The obligation of the parties to the process and a two-state solution; bilateral negotiations only between Israel and the PA, which will be secret; commitment to the first stage of the Road Map - a cessation of settlement construction and evacuation of illegal outposts by Israel, and a war on terror by the Palestinians; Israel and the PA will continue working together to bolster Palestinian institutions, with an emphasis on security and judicial bodies; and the international community will continue to support and assist the process diplomatically and economically.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035129.html

The importance of this is that because Rice and the State Department reached these agreements on the two controversial issues - having 2 states and settlements - Obama should have an easier time stating that this is a bipartisan foreign policy - and it will make any right wing Jewish (a phrase I rarely write) attacks on it less successful.

Consider, the speeches by Biden and Kerry to AIPAC, where both unambiguously spoke for a two state solution and against settlements were not met by hostility at the AIPAC conference.

link to those speeches - http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/05/biden_kerry_off.html
link to CSPAN video - http://cspan.org/Watch/Media/2009/05/05/HP/A/18231/Vice+Pres+Biden+Sen+John+Kerry+DMA+Remarks+at+AIPAC+Annual+Conference.aspx

As was mentioned in the coverage of the AIPAC convention - AIPAC, which has been a powerful voice from the right on Israel, grudging agreed with the two state solution.

The largest US Jewish pr-peace group, Brit Tzedak V'Shalom praised the speeches. They have been advocating for a two state solution for years - here is a link. http://btvshalom.org/ga_messages/ga_20090507.html (They erred a little in that Kerry's speech was minutes before Biden's, not the day before.)

So, it looks like the UK and US, Israel's two strongest supporters, have moved unambiguously to supporting a two state solution. Now, had Livni become President, it would be easy to say that the stars might finally be aligned. The question is whether Netanyahu will follow in the footsteps of Begin, also a Likkud member, who had the courage to work for peace.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Just for information, the Daily Mail is quite far right wing, not 'leftish'

If you want to see what they're like, try the http://www.mailwatch.co.uk/ site, which chronicles its endless anti-immigration stories, its obsession with house prices (they should always be rising quickly, as far as it's concerned, because it's readers mainly own their own homes, and anything that might stop that source of apparent wealth to them is awful), and its other obsessions - eg dividing all objects and activities in the world into ones that cause cancer, and ones that cure it.

[LeftishBrit]

7. Sadly true

The Daily Mail (sometimes known as the Daily Hate or Hate-Mail) is against New Labour because they aren't right-wing enough for them. They would prefer the Tories, and preferably under a more RW leader than Cameron. In many ways, they're our answer to the American RW talk-shows.

The Daily Mirror is our only vaguely leftish tabloid; the Daily Mail, Daily Express, and the Murdoch-owned Sun are all to the right of Genghis Khan.