In one of the most absurd and comical headlines of the year, The Wall Street Journal on Friday says it knows who will be tapped to oversee Gaza once the Israel-Hamas war is over: former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
That’s according to a controversial White House plan now being proposed to Arab and Israeli leaders. The 72-year old is being presented as a peace-maker, despite his record of being George W. Bush’s biggest allied supporter in the disastrous, blood-soaked invasion of Iraq and overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
“As Britain’s prime minister, Tony Blair helped negotiate a landmark peace agreement to end three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland,” WSJ writes, apparently without intending irony. “Now, President Trump might want him for an even more difficult job: Helping Gaza get back on its feet once the conflict ends.”
The plan calls for a Gaza International Transition Authority (GITA) – which sounds a bit like the Bush-era’s Coalition Provisional Coalition (CPA) which oversaw nation-building in Iraq. And so it seems Blair will be the Paul Bremer for the Gaza Strip, according to the plan.
The idea is that this would be a UN-overseen initiative. “The United Nations-backed body would control the enclave for at least several years, staffed in part by Palestinian technocrats and supported by an Arab-led international peacekeeping force, until it could hand over full control to the Palestinians, officials say,” WSJ continues.
However, US admin officials have said Blair is but one of several officials under consideration for heading up the GITA mission. The plan would have to gain the cooperation and backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and presumably whatever Palestinian officials remain in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
Hellbound and Down 