Dismay at Blair's new appointment

international | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Tuesday July 03, 2007 13:12 by IPSC - Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign

In common with friends of Palestine throughout the world, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) greets with dismay the news that Tony Blair has been appointed as the so-called International Quartet's Representative to the Middle East.

IPSC dismay at Blair's new appointment
3rd July 2007

In common with friends of Palestine throughout the world, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) greets with dismay the news that Tony Blair has been appointed as the so-called International Quartet's Representative to the Middle East.

The IPSC notes US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's claim that the former British Prime Minister "has been at the forefront of international efforts to promote peace and reconciliation around the world". Given Mr Blair's role in instigating the illegal war against Iraq, his refusal to call for a ceasefire during last year's Israeli onslaught on Lebanon, and the fact that he has sent British troops into war five times during his decade in power, this claim stretches the boundaries of parody.

Many will point to Mr Blair's role in securing the Good Friday Agreement that has brought a tentative peace to the North of Ireland. However, he has consistently backed Israel's policy of internment without trial, its disproportionate and illegal violence, and its insistence that it will negotiate only with those who have already conceded its demands. Had these criteria been applied on this island, the conflict would never had ended. This double standard suggests a neo-colonial and indeed racist attitude towards the Palestinian people.

The IPSC believes that Tony Blair – already a patron of Israel's Jewish National Fund (JNF) - is committed to the aims of the expansionist Israeli state, and hence is the last person to represent a body that is supposedly dedicated to seeking a peaceful resolution of the Israel/Palestine issue. The credibility of the "International Quartet", already at a low ebb, has vanished completely with this absurd and misconceived appointment.