Donald Trump’s decision to name Sir Tony Blair to a key role overseeing Gaza has sparked pushback among some Arab and Muslim countries, underscoring the challenges facing the US-backed plans to manage the enclave once the war ends.
Three diplomats told the FT that some Arab and Muslim states had voiced concerns over the plans to include Blair on a “board of peace” intended to supervise a postwar transition in the war-shattered strip, because of his backing for the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
The diplomats also cited worries that draft plans by the former UK prime minister would have marginalised the role of Palestinians in running Gaza.
The countries with which Trump has been consulting over the future of Gaza include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey and Indonesia.
The diplomats declined to name which states were resistant to Blair’s appointment because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“Some countries have issues with him due to his vision or past,” an Arab diplomat said. “Others think there will be resistance towards him by Palestinians so he could slow down or create issues for the deal itself.”
Another diplomat said: “Blair’s reputation and his role in Iraq is generally seen as negative. So it depends on how things will be shaped.”
“There is currently an Arab-Islamic mechanism to discuss positions, so during the deliberations there were some negative reactions,” they added, referring to the grouping of Muslim-majority and Arabic countries.
A third diplomat said that Blair has good relations “with the elite, especially in the Gulf”.
“But at a grass roots level it’s very bad for Gaza because from day one if you establish this [governance] formula and problems pop up people will target Blair and say ‘he’s British, he’s acting as a colonial power and all these things,’” they added.
“It’s a very difficult mission and it might fail so why put someone who’ll make it more difficult?”
Blair, who served as a Middle East envoy after leaving Downing Street in 2007, was the only person named as a member of the board in Trump’s 20-point plan to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.
Trump’s plan states that the board will include “other heads of state” and “set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza”.
The board would oversee the enclave until the Palestinian Authority, which administers limited parts of the occupied West Bank, is reformed and can “effectively” take control of Gaza.
It would also supervise a committee of technocratic Palestinians that would manage public services in the strip, which Hamas has controlled since 2007.
But this month Trump — who is to chair the board — appeared to acknowledge that there was resistance to Blair’s appointment.
“I want to find out that Tony would be popular with all because I just don’t know that,” Trump said.
His administration has engaged closely with Arab and Muslim states on the plan’s formulation and implementation.
Washington is expecting them to provide the bulk of troops for an international stabilisation force to be deployed in Gaza and funds for the strip’s massive reconstruction needs.
However, many of the details still have to be worked out.
“No one is any wiser about this board of peace, who’s going to be on it, what it’s going to do,” a fourth diplomat said.
Another diplomat said Arab states were “generally sceptical about the presence of a peace board in general”.
The former UK prime minister was working on Gaza plans for more than a year in an individual capacity using his Tony Blair Institute to formulate ideas, before Trump announced his own initiative.
A central theme of Blair’s proposals included an international trusteeship for the besieged Palestinian enclave. He co-ordinated with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy during the president’s first term.
The pair attended a White House meeting with Trump and his senior officials about Gaza in August, and Kushner has since taken on a far more prominent role since the president’s 20-point plan secured a ceasefire this month.
An ally of Blair’s said: “Of course there will be pushback from certain people, but others recognise that he has played a crucial role in formulating the plan which ended the war and he has strong support among the leadership in the region.”
Arab and European officials worried that Blair’s plans focused too heavily on Israel’s concerns, would marginalise the Palestinians and lack legitimacy as he advocated for Gaza to be run by an international trusteeship, known as GITA, according to diplomats.
A draft of Blair’s plan said GITA’s international board would exercise “supreme strategic and political authority”.
The ally of the former prime minister said “the notion of his sidelining the Palestinians is absurd”.
“On the contrary, he has pushed hard for their involvement and specifically that Gaza and the West Bank should, after the transition, be united under PA leadership,” they said.
After Trump’s plan was unveiled, Blair described it as “bold and intelligent” and indicated he would be happy to serve on the “board of peace”.
Most Arab states are pushing for a greater role for the PA in Gaza and are concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amended the plan to diminish references to the authority. Netanyahu vehemently rejects any PA involvement in Gaza.
After meeting Blair this month, Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian vice-president, said “we have confirmed our readiness” to work with Trump and Blair “to consolidate the ceasefire”.
“We stressed the importance of stopping the undermining of the Palestinian Authority,” Sheikh said in a post on X.
“And especially the return of the withheld Palestinian revenues [by Israel] and preventing the undermining of the two-state solution in preparation for a comprehensive and lasting peace.”
