From Balfour to Blair: The West’s game in Palestine!

By Adem Kılıç, Political Scientist / Author

Shortly after announcing its recognition of Palestine as a state, Britain deployed former Prime Minister Tony Blair to thwart Palestine’s self-determination in line with US President Trump’s so-called ‘Peace Deal’.

This move once again exposed the historical hypocrisy and colonialist mentality of Washington, London and, essentially, the West.

Tony Blair is now positioned not merely as an ‘advisor’ but as a figure who will protect Western-Israeli interests in Gaza and manage the post-war transition process.

Blair’s legacy in Iraq and war crimes

Tony Blair’s legacy in Iraq clearly demonstrates how untrustworthy he is when it comes to Palestine.

Thousands of civilians lost their lives and systematic massacres and destruction took place during the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Tony Blair, who persuaded then-US President Bush to wage the war, admitted years later that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that they had acted on false intelligence reports.

However, this admission and the process, which sparked serious debates in terms of international law, were never subject to a trial in the international arena.

At this point, this figure is now becoming a key player in the ‘reconstruction’ of Gaza, in line with a so-called Peace Agreement that serves Israel’s interests entirely.

Trump and Netanyahu’s ‘Riviera’ plan

Tony Blair explicitly stated his support for a project that would redesign Gaza as a ‘Riviera’ and ‘trade hub’ in line with American and Israeli interests.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that the ‘Trump’s Riviera’ plan, modelled by the Boston Consulting Group and led by Israeli investors, envisaged opening Gaza to international capital and that Blair supported this plan.

However, the views of Palestinians were never sought during this process. Although the announced 20-point plan stated that Palestinians would not be exiled, it did not provide a single line of information about what kind of life they would lead under the new plan.

Diplomatic deception

US President Donald Trump turned a blind eye to Israeli attacks on Hamas negotiators in Doha, while at the same time revealing his true intentions by refusing to grant Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to attend the UN ceremony.

This move was not directed against Abbas’s administration, which already disregards Gaza’s rights, but was a step towards completely ignoring the Palestinian people.

Trump took steps that amounted to depriving Palestinians of their right to have a say in their own future, in full view of the world, and then immediately announced a so-called peace plan that ignored the Palestinians, as if to crown his actions.

Blair’s deployment was also revealed as part of this diplomatic irony.

His responsibility for the massacres in Iraq and his description of himself as ‘an evangelical Jew’ reveal that his actual role is to limit Palestine’s right to determine its own destiny and to implement American-Israeli policies.

From Balfour to Blair: The British colonial approach to Palestine

More than a century has passed since Arthur Balfour, another British minister, issued his 1917 declaration that supposedly laid the foundations for the State of Israel, promising a ‘national home for the Jewish people.’ It appears that the United States and Israel are now attempting to introduce a new Balfour approach.

Washington and Tel Aviv are taking center stage with a new Balfour move, and Tony Blair’s name coming to the fore in this process signifies the revival of historical irony.

Looking at the whole picture, it is clear that the Palestinian people are being deprived of the right to determine their own destiny even on their own land, and Tony Blair’s deployment, considering his past war crimes and destructive policies in Iraq, shows that he is only a project for Palestine.

Conclusion

The transition process in Gaza is being shaped according to the interests of international powers, and the Palestinians’ ability to control their own security, economic and political future is being completely eliminated.

This situation also aims to limit Palestine’s hopes of establishing its own state and its social resistance.

Arab states, which have been forced to accept the notion that ‘the worst peace is better than war,’ are currently continuing to take steps to end the oppression in Gaza within this framework.

In summary, history is repeating itself in an ironic way once again, and following Arthur Balfour’s move over a century ago, the new figures brought onto the stage by Washington and Tel Aviv are setting up a new game to continue determining the fate of the Palestinian people from outside.