Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, 72, will play a key role in the transitional body that will govern the post-war Gaza Strip, as per U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point “Peace Plan”. Mr. Trump’s plan draws heavily from a proposal that Mr. Blair himself had developed through his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
In Mr. Blair’s version of the plan, an international body, the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA), would govern the Gaza Strip for a certain number of years. In Mr. Trump’s proposal, Article 9 states that Gaza would be “governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee”. This Palestinian committee, however, will report to “a new international transitional body, the “Board of Peace”, which will be headed and chaired by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”
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The governance structure comprising a transitional Palestinian committee and the Board of Peace is a rehash of Mr. Blair’s GITA model. Both versions envisage an administrative hierarchy with a wealthy white man (Mr. Blair/Mr. Trump) from the West helming an apex body that would “exercise supreme strategic and political authority”. Palestinian representation comes at the bottom of the managerial ladder. Its remit is restricted to the nitty-gritty of civic governance such as policing, municipal services, and vaccination programmes.
