Tony Blair, the ephemeral special Middle East Peace envoy

Middle East Peace Envoy for the Quartet (U.S., Russia, EU and UN) since 2007, yet no one has heard a word by Tony Blair since the beginning of the crisis in Gaza (and even before), and not one know what he’s actually been doing so far. “His position has been declining after the speech he made at Bloomberg in April, when he said that radicalised Islam is a worldwide threat and should be fought all over the world. Being the Middle East Peace Envoy, his statement was quite too strong,” told us Rosa Balfour, Director of the Europe in the World Programme at the EPC (European Policy Centre). “No one knows what he has been doing for years, it seems he hasn’t done anything,” added Balfour. “Lately, the peace process has been managed by the Obama administration, with John Kerry and the negotiations he’s been bringing about for months. Yet, yhe talks run aground in April 2014, when Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement for a joint national government which wasn’t accepted by Israel.”

The British press is also guessing what Blair, former UK Prime Minister, is actually doing for the Middle East, given that he seems much more interested to the (well paid) role of consultant for rich emirates (such as Kuwait or Abu Dhabi) than to his role of mediator between Israel and Palestine. Yesterday the Mail on Sunday revealed that, while the number of victims in Gaza was dramatically increasing (now more than 1,000 Palestinians have died during the conflict), Blair was in the UK, throwing a surprise party for his wife Cherie’s 60^th birthday. A mega party held in their Buckinghamshire mansion, with 150 guests, for about 50,000£ spent in champagne, food and hiring of the artists having their exhibitions during the party.

Sure, he can’t be give a remarkable contribution to the course of the events – not more than what he’s been doing in the last seven years – hence no surprise, but he’s supposed to have at least some media coverage, with a proposal, an idea, an observation, an invite for a truce. That is, something able to justify his office should be due. Otherwise, a possible and fair resignation could be taken into account, given the uselessness of Blair’s role so far.