Palestinian official: Mideast Quartet envoy Tony Blair 'useless'
Nabil Shaath says former British prime minister 'talks like an Israeli diplomat'; states that Quartet proposal for renewal of direct peace talks is too vague.
By DPA Tags: Middle East peace Quartet Tony Blair Palestinian state PalestiniansA senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said that former British premier and current Mideast Quartet representative Tony Blair was "useless."
"Lately, he (Blair) talks like an Israeli diplomat, selling their policies," Nabil Shaath told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "Therefore, he is useless to us."
 |
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair |
| Photo by: AP |
Shaath said that while the Palestinian Authority has not yet asked the Quartet - made up of the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations - to replace him, it was obvious Blair was not favored in Palestinian circles anymore.
The Palestinian official said that while a Quartet statement issued Friday, aimed at relaunching direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, had "very few flaws," it left too much room for interpretation.
"If the Quartet statement is left to the parties' interpretation, it will take us 20 years to negotiate," he said. "There should be a referee to hold the red card when someone violates the rules," he added.
The Quartet had to be more specific, he said. "It has to say stop settlements, stop violence and accept the terms of reference," he said.
President Abbas applied for recognition of a Palestinian state and full UN membership in New York on September 23.
The 15-nation UN Security Council is headed by Lebanese Ambassador Nawaf Salam, whose country supports the Palestinian bid. But the United States has vowed to use its veto power as a permanent member to stop the Palestinian effort in the UN.
Nevertheless, nine current members of the council had already recognized Palestine and could be expected to vote in favor of the Palestinian bid, said Shaath.
The positions of Colombia and Portugal, two non-permanent members, were not yet clear even though both countries have good relations with the Palestinians, he added.
Abbas is to visit both countries in the second week of October in an effort to gain their support.
He will first visit the European Parliament, where he will make an address on October 6, after which he will travel to Central and South America, stopping in Portugal on his way back, according to Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
The only thing useless in the entire process are the Palestinian negotiators themselves
Anybody dealing with this man should check they still have their wallet! He is only out to serve himself while also having the gift of making it look like he's doing it for you! Very useless and but also very crafty indeed
Blair is bloody useless.
have they not caused havoc in the region? and their brothers in syria lebanon jordan libya yemen and egypt.have we not seen murderous behaviour from these nations?
When his name was mentioned at the Labour party conference - the party he led for 13 years - the delegated booed. This man is deeply, deeply unpopular in his own country. He has managed to make himself equally unpopular in Palestine in a very short time.
he saw our problems in the pakistani settlements of northern britain.then he understood israel.
palestinian intransigence is then blamed on the entire world, be it tony blair, barack obama, us congress, the quartet. never have the palestinians taken responsibility for any of their acts. however, the world is waking up. the palestinians want to destroy a sovereign state, a member of the united nations, while demanding their own state as a temporary step to fulfil their final goal.
Anybody who got down on his knees to pray with George Bush is not to be trusted. Anybody who hid his true religious beliefs while in political office but converted openly as soon as he left power is not to be trusted. Those are two things Tony Blair did.
all this is forgotten.there is so much ignorance and sheer hypocrisy.
I thank Tony Blair for his work on the peace process in Ireand. But, regarding being allowed to be a peace negotiator in this cause is wrong he supports Israel. Tony be a honest man and stand aside. He cannot be fair and honest when he supports one side.
typical palestinian logic.
That has to be he most goofy picture of Tony Blai I've seen. lol
hamas has once again declared its goal to destroy israel: "palestinians must resort to resistance no matter how costly it is, until palestine is free and israel is destroyed." fatah declared: "if we said that we want israel wiped out, it's too difficult. don't say these things to the world. keep it to yourselves."(al-jazeera, 23/9/2011).
Mr. Shaath, They had to find some sort of a job for Tony Blair, because he couldn't find anything appropriate. So he was sent to you to convince you you should do a few more years of blah blah with the Israelis while they increase their settlements. Don't complain. They could send you Mrs. Clinton next year.
Well he(tony) is the same person who invaded iraq, and caused over 2 million deaths. it was a joke to put him incharge.
Blair won't put up with their BS so he's useless to them...
Mr Blix was 95% sure that US old 'best friend' had no arms of massdestruction, but Bush and Blair has already decided to ahead with the invasion, so Mr. Blair lied to his fellow citizens. What do you call such a man?
Blair from England, Bush and Cheney from the USA are War Criminals and should be tried at the Haigue! How are they getting away with killing hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and creating a war under false circumstances over Imperial Reasons! Blair does NOT belong in any PEACE talks when he is an apparent WAR CRIMINAL!
The issues of Israeli expansion onto Palestinian land while avoiding peace and denying the Palestians a state are not hard to decipher. There have been [plenty of people on the Palestinian's side and some on the Israeli's side. So what? Every person that spends even a few moments to check the issues and what has gone before will have their own strong opinion that no proxy. shill, lackey, or stooge, for either side can change. It has become obvious that most of the people of the world oppose Israeli settlements and support a Palestinian state. This mighty will is making it's way into the political arena. It is only a matter of time. Tony Blair is a fringe player with no responsibility and no authority. It would be a mistake for either side to get worked up over his opinions.
blair was a pupet in the hand of the bush s hand and now he is still a pupet in obamas ones
IF it were not for Blair, the west bank would be a desert without a tree...with no money for the corrupt gov't., he is useless to the beggars and squatters. Blair is the one tree In the desert...they should kiss the ground he walks on...
By labelling Blair as "useless," Abbas is relieved of any responsibility for negotiating. Clearly, the Abbas Palestinians are not/never intend to be serious - they can't be without Hamas - and Hamas only wants Israel's destruction, not two states.
Why should anyone listen to Mr. Blair who together with Bush decided the invasion of Iraq. He's an advisor for the investment bank J P Morgan where he's paid £2 million a year, he has Tony Blair's Associates a consultancy, is again an advisor for Zurich a Swiss Insurer. So what does anybody expect from a person with such greed. He is waisting his 'precious' time in the Middle East.
Thank you Daniel, for your brilliant ideas. I has already been proven that you are only served by yourself, that means that we have to take care of our own security, and never trust a third party to do it for us. With all the changes in the world, you haven't learned a thing.
Is that Israel dosen't recognise Palestine. They see jordan as palestine.
But certainly on the right tracks. I think that is a good starting point and one which would satisfy both the Israeli right (me being one) and the Pal right, too. Would anyone disagree?
As soon as anyone says something that is not clearly anti-Israel he becomes persona non grata to the Arabs. The idea of reason and compromise is not within their mental vocabulary.
Sorry Abbas, but the world is tired of your corrupt violent nonsense already!
Tony Blair was stooge of Bush now he is a stooge of Israel.
nice one Haaretz
YES!
And Netanyahu would be a bonus if he goes as well
Cite one thing Blair has managed to do there. I've read of him failing to get the IDF to allow a poor village to link up to the electrical grid, when appealed to. He loves paperwork and the limelight, but keeps negotiating with the Palestinians only to ask them to step back and compromise on things like water in the wells, putting in electricity, always after deep consultation with Israel and the IDF.
Abbas could easily say ok we will sit and discuss everything. Then at the table ask for clarification on what these so called vague areas are and their meaning. But it can not be done when you stay away. Abbas wants to stay away and make it look like he is doing something which he is not. He is simply staying away running teh clock waiting for teh Un to say he re is your state instead of negotiating it. After all during ten monts of constructionf reezae he stayed away
Blair has been flagrantly biased, against the Palestenians... nothing new. Stop dreaming.
Blair is a Zionist in sheep's clothing. He, however, is no different than the USA administration. The US politely condemns Israeli violations of human rights, land theft, settlement expansion, etc., but never take any actions to stop it. The US and Western Nations are useless as mediators. If this were happening anywhere else in the world, they would be up in arms and bringing sanctions. But when it comes to Israel, their concern for reelection outweighs their moral conscious!
If the Quartet wants a realistic proposal, they should take into account that Israel is dominated by the right-wing, people who don't want to give up the West Bank. They should therefore issue a type of "threat", such as: If negotiations have not been concluded by October of next year, the Quartet will recommend to the Security Council a unilateral decision on all the issues still outstanding, including Jerusalem, borders, refugees, etc., and this final plan will also depend on their view on who was responsible for the delay in decision making. This will get even Israel moving, since it will allow Obama to act after the US elections in early November. Even if he loses, he still remains President until Jan 20th. Without such a threat, Israel under Netanyahu will spend the time talking, and next year Abbas will be in worse shape than now. My suggestion to Abbas: Just decline the present proposal and explain your reasons.
Sadly, whoever is acceptable to the Israelis is automatically disqualified by the Palestinians. The converse is also true; think about Israel's objections to Goldstone's Report on the Gaza war. The last problem with your premise is enforcement. Even if the UN reaches its own conclusions and decides to implement them, how can the enforce their will on the Israel and/or the Palestinians both Fatah and Hamas. If it comes down to "international sanctions" remember how long it's taken to do anything against Assad while he's killing his own citizens.
Oper Cast Lead was a good example of how the IDF will terat UN or anyone who stands in the way. G*D gives life, not land.
The EU and US are opposing statehood because that is where the pals will get their arbitrator. It will find the settlements to be illegal and may find Israel guilty of war crimes by imposing the settlements.
Gone is the cheshire cat's smile. We will never see that irritating smile again.
The Palestinians have not demanded the firing of Blair and may never do, but they have signalled that the Quartet plan is a no starter while Blair is at the helm, which is a superflous point really since Israel has already done the Palestinians the favor of killing this plan. Rather than demand Blair’s firing, the Palestinians have done the correct thing of merely indicating that a requirement of good faith on the part of the Quartet is to find someone more suitable for the job. They should express the same feeling about Ashton.
When Tony Blair as part of the Quartet was pushing and pushing Israel to make peace he was the darling of the Pals. Now that Blair realizes that peace is a two-sided coin and is asking the Pals to sit and negotiate face to face..now Tony Blair is useless. Then to read all you others a-holes saying the same only proves to me again that you are biased against Israel no matter what.
It is the new fashion to be anti-Israeli. Unforunately some use their anti-Israeli position to mask their basic anti-semitism - usually making the statement that "some of my best friends are Jews"
THE ARABS THOUGHT THEY HAD A BUDDY, TURNED OUT HE WAS HONEST SO THEY CAN'T USE HIM
1. Asking for UN membership is a big mistake. The application has to be approved first by the Security Council, which may not do so even WITHOUT a US veto. (it is a touch and go.) Non-approval will be a setback, and even an approval but with a US veto will not be useful because the SC will delay it to the max (35 days) during which the whole issue will lose momentum. In any case, what is the point of this approach if the SC is ultimately not going to approve the request? I hope SOMEONE can explain this to me. Abbas should have requested the GA to approve his independent state based on the 1967 borders, and become a non-member of the UN. Membership could come later, as Israel's did about a year after Independence./ 2. Agreeing to talk with Israel ONLY based on the 1967 border is introducing a pre-condition. Netanyahu has his own pre-conditions, so Abbas now appears on equal footing as a trouble maker./ What Abbas should have insisted on is FREEZING settlement activity by Israel during peace talks. It is not possible to discuss sharing a pizza while one side keeps eating it. A freeze is therefore not a pre-condition but a necessary condition for talks. This would have kept Abbas on a higher moral plane than Netanyahu./ Well, Abbas now has 35 days to think about it.
that Israel is not interested in peace. The maximum Israel can offer is less than any Palestinian could accept. He knows that the U.S can not force Israel to make peace. So he wants to dismantle the PA but wants to make it come from the U.S and Israel. The Palestinians will be going for the one state solution now. All of this U.N thing is not going to go any where and they know that. It is just to put the U.S. and Israel on the spot. Israel will only have Bibi to blame. The whole ME will go on fire. The right wing Israeli government thinks they will manages to escape untouchable as usual. But I think they are in for a big surprise. The world has changed. This is going to be ugly. I never wanted to be more wrong. But I think I am not. There will be no winners
I DO wish to understand Abbas' considerations, but they don't make sense to me. Am I missing something?
Abbas will not negotiate period if he can avoid it.. If he is forced to negotiate he will NEVER accept ANY deal no matter how generous that will end the conflict. Eventually, maybe you will catch on. Israel hasnt always had a right wing govt. and where was Abbas then? Israelis caught on. Maybe Blair has caught on now so of course he is now "useless." Please wake up and stop being "useful" Its not about settlements on barren hilltops its about Israel's right to exist -not on defensible borders but on any borders. The Pals just will not end this conflict til Israel is completey gone and I think you all know this in your hearts if not your heads.
I thought that most people who "understand" Abbas were Arab supporters, who WANT to believe that Abbas is acting cleverly. I didn't realize that Jews also "understand" Abbas. So please consider the TWO following options, regardless of what your own biases are: 1. First Abbas goes to the General Assembly and gets approval for his state with the 1967 borders (up to exchanges) and THEN he goes to the Security Council for membership in the UN. 2. Abbas reverses the order of the two requests (as he is doing now), He goes to the SC, gets rejected, then goes to the GA./ If you think the second approach is wiser than the first, please weigh the two and explain. Don't just say the present approach will lead to results you want to believe in, but why the first will not produce such results even faster.
This is something known to all except that the U.S. and Europe prefer to turn aa blind eye. They know there will be violence in the Midddle East either way.
Well said, but who wants to listed to you? I am surprised it was printed.
do you mean the armistice lines of 1949
Palestinians think in a different way that the Israelis. They believe that any conflict is "merely a continuation of their policy by other means." They do not care of the result of the conflict but the impact of the conflict on their policy. Anyway to answer your Qs. 1: There are two reasons to it: (a) This has put Quartet on notice. It has to deliver what it has been constituted and promised to do. Else get lost. In chess terms they now have the "initiative". (b) Strange as it may seem, Abbas may WANT it to fail via a US VETO only. This would produce a paradigm shift towards a ONE STATE solution. USA knows that. 2: There are TWO preconditions. Both from the Quartet position. (a) 1967 and (b) freeze. The fun part is that it are well stated by USA also. So please see 1(a) above. Quartet must deliver that! The STRANGEST BEHAVIOR is that of UNITED STATES. We just do not know what it wants. It seems they are allowing the situation go towards a ONE STATE solution.
To the Muslim ear, anyone that is not screaming against the occupation of Palestine (the 1948 one, not the 1967 one) sounds like an Israeli diplomat.
The immediate consequence of this would be Arafats wife Shua would not get her 20 million a year from teh PA and she and her daughter would have to move out of teh Hilton Hotel in paris and seek more modest digs. Abbas does not want that on his head.
But ironically they are also over whelmingly a pro Palestinian State an the majority supported the Palestinians in going to the UN to get one.
I think that it is about time that every penny given as aid to Palestinians is fully accountable. How can they let Mrs. Suha Arafat and daughter live in luxury, when the people are suffering? All amounts paid to high officials should be completely transparent. The West, open your eyes.
Mister ex prime minister Tony Blair is everything in the world, but fair as he promotes the offenders right to kill, steal and demolish at night He smiles today because he does not care Good bye mister useless Tony Blair
HE IS ONLY THERE TO FILL HIS POCKETS. IN A CIVILIZED SOCIETY HE WOULD HAVE TO STAND TRIAL FOR WAR CRIMES.
It is simply a waste of time. Let it be One State Solution! The end of story. No israel, No Palestine. One Man, One Vote, Equality for all inhabitants. Equal Pay for Equal Work, Equal Water Rights. No Apartheid, No Segregation...A Very True Secular Democracy. Let us call it:”State of Holy land”.
your brains are frying and you're spitting out nonsense. Israel is now 60...NOT GOING anywhere nor does it plan to. They already have one man one vote called democracy. You living in Your Smug protected socialist state cannot understand what it is like living as a missile target from a dozen declared enemies espousing your death and the death of your children.(remember last month's rocket attack on an Israeli schoolbus killing Jewish children....Remember the month before when the arabs slit the throat of a Jewish baby and her family Are you proud of that? You think these animals that dance and celebrate a Jewish babies remorseless death Is so easily smoothed over... Wake up... The non equality comes from abass's NO JEWS allowed in PALestine And no recognition of IsraelBS As arabs are allowed in Israel...So there. But I like your idea of a State of HolyLand as long as it's a continuation of a secure democratic JEWISH HOMELAND free from constant arab hate onslaught.
Even Germany is no longer good enough for Israel
There haven't been "real" negotiations for 10 years. We had the 2nd (terrorist) intifada for 4 or 5 years, then the transfer of power from Arafat to Abbas, then elections, then the 2006 Gaza/Lebanon war, then the Palestinian Civil War in 2007 culminating in the Hamas coup d'etat in Gaza, then the escalating rocket attacks from Gaza culminating in the 2008-09 Israel-Gaza war, then the settlement freeze from Nov. '09 to Sept '10 (which wasn't good enough to restart negotiations for the first 9 months), then the suspension of talks after a few weeks with the resumption settlement building, and then so-called Palestinian unity deal followed by Abbas' trip to the UN last week. There was never any intention on the Palestinians part to resolve the conflict by negotiation in all those ten years.
Really? Where on earth do you live? In a lonely planet?
No one has ever had any illusions about Blair, but politicians have to work under certain constraint that limit their choice of action. They have to deal with people they dislike on a continuous basis. Look at Obama and Netanyahu
He is useless and a total failure. Put someone in charge who is credibility with the Jewish and Arab street. This guy is spinless and only their to stay in the game. For Peace to move forward, GET RID of BLAIR.
Coulden't be more aggred!
Only getting rid of the right wing nutters in the US and Israel will push the peace forward. An getting rid of a few nutters in the Palestinians side would also help. Blair is ban for actually running direct negotiations by the Quartet over a final peace deal.
The British finally figured it out. Bush had to arrange his servant's new job. The Palestinians are the last to learn the malignancy known as Crime Minister Slimy Liar is useless.
Lack of integrity and honesty in people key to the supposed peace negotiation process is not an excuse, it is key to why this process has remained insoluble. In International Law and relations context of course, the real problem remains the "Jewish democratic state of Israel", the invented oxymoronically-named colonialist state of the 19th century Zionist movement which refuses to act lawfully and in good faith. (See, we can all have fun with quotation marks peter)
Israel has rejected the Quartet plan, and that is that.
The facts are there for all to see. You still live in a delusional racist state of mind
The Pals said there is much to be encouraged about, but they do want some things clarified. Israel, however, flat out rejected it, as they couldn't come to a decision to support it. Sounds like it was YOUR side who's to blame. As is the case at least 8 times out of 10.
calling war criminal Tony Blair useless is inaccurate he is worse than useless
YUPP, he is useless to everyone !!
what crime did he commit
He was only helping the wordl to rid it of terrorists like sadam, hence he is not a war criminal. Arafat is/was.
Is an overstatement, this guy does more damage than good!
they learned this lesson from the g-d´s chosen!
Tell me, why are the PA leaders useless? Please share us your toughts and don't act like your friend Lieberman.
Start from Arafat and you will know how usesless they are. Abbas is just following in arafat's foot steps. Until they climb down from arafat's hallucinations, and realise the the Jews/Israel are here to stay, they reamin usesless!!!!
But, once in the leadership role, if they say, "Now it's time to talk with the other side and make peace," all support disappears. The PLO was the only game in town until they started talking with the Israelis. After that, Hamas was suddenly more popular and actually won the elections. Now that Hamas controls Gaza and has to work with Israel on security (least the IDF respond with attacks against Hamas position), it's Hamas that reigns in other militant factions. So, Hamas popularity is draining away. Abbas has decided to take on Israel (at least diplomatically) and stop talking with them, and now he is the most popular politician in the territories. However, just as soon as he says, "Let's talk peace with the Israelis," he will suddenly become a traitor to the Palestinian nation once again. In effect, the problem isn't totally with the leadership, but the people who seem to only want to support leaders who won't make peace. Or to put it the other way around, it is a political kiss of death for any Palestinian politician to win the approval or admiration of Israel (or even the US). Maybe that's the reason Israel could make peace with Egypt and Jordan; because the leaders in those countries didn't really care what the people had to say. Of course, the Arab Spring is showing what the value of a peace treaty on paper only really is.