Trump and Blair: Can they tag-team peace in the Middle East?

Read time: 3 minutes

In brief:

• Tony Blair met Donald Trump and Jared Kushner at the White House to present a post-war Gaza plan, though no details were released about the discussions.
• While Blair reportedly is working towards a two-state solution, Lewis Goodall questions whether it is “delusion” to believe that could be a likely outcome with the current Israeli government.
• The News Agents say that while Blair has a “tremendous belief in his own power of political persuasion”, the conflict is too historically complex for any single politician to solve.

What’s the story?

In this week’s attempt to bring peace to the Middle East, former Prime Minister Tony Blair has made a visit to Washington DC, laying out plans for a post-war Gaza to President Donald Trump.

The former Prime Minister joined a White House meeting with President Trump and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor, on Wednesday (27 August) to discuss a “day-after” plan for Gaza, when the war eventually ends.

Blair presented Trump with ideas for a post-war plan, discussing how Gaza can be governed without Hamas in power, sources tell Axios.

In February, Trump proposed having the US “take over” Gaza and transform it into the "Riviera of the Middle East”. He said he would “level” the site and suggested Palestinians could resettle in neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt.

But he may have dialed the tone down since then, with his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff telling Fox News ahead of the “large meeting” that it would focus on a “comprehensive plan” being put together for post-war Gaza that was “robust” and “well-meaning”.

While The White House, nor Blair, have shared any additional information about what discussions took place at the meeting, a Blair ally told the Financial Times that for the former Labour leader it’s about “getting back to a two-state solution” and “absolutely not about forcible displacement.”

Tony Blair has long played a role in trying to prince peace to the Middle East, taking on the role of Special Representative to the Middle East Peace Quartet after leaving office in 2007 - although, Lewis Goodall suggests he may have been “the wrong person” for the job, given his particular history and involvement in the Iraq War.

“Nonetheless he has been at this for a long time,” he says.

“It’s fascinating that all these years on, Blair is still a player in these matters at the heart of the White House.”

What’s The News Agents’ take?

“Blair can be quite messianic,” Jon Sopel says.

“He thinks: ‘I am a man of destiny, and I'm the one who can deliver this’.”

But the outcome of his efforts remains unclear, with little information released about what happened during The White House talks, and how much of a success they were.

Lewis believes that Blair has most likely calculated that the only person who has a hope of reining Netanyahu in from his plan of total control of Gaza, is Trump.

And given Trump’s close ties with the Israeli PM, any influence that Blair can bear over Trump is therefore a good thing.

But Lewis is skeptical about Blair’s commitment to a two-state solution, saying it feels “pretty deluded,” considering the extreme forces in Netanyahu’s government.

“A two-state solution is starting to feel like an artifact of a geopolitical world long past, a 20th century concept”.

It is likely the only way there will be durable peace, but Jon agrees achieving it right now “seems to be utterly impossible”.

But the fact that the former Prime Minister was involved in such discussions at The White House is “reflective of Blair’s MO of doing politics,” Lewis says.

“He's always had a tremendous belief that he has a unique ability to unlock things using his personal relationships, his personal charisma, his personal charm, his contacts, that other politicians can't.”

While he demonstrated that unique ability during the Good Friday process, Blair’s been attempting to make progress in the Middle East - alongside other world leaders, most notably Bill Clinton - for a long time, with little achieved.

“This is a process which ultimately is so structural, which is so historic, which is so dominated by people long dead and events long past and ideas and religion and so on,” Lewis says.

“It makes it almost impervious to the personal abilities, I think, of any one particular politician to effect change.”

Listen to the full episode on Global Player.