MIDDLE East peace envoy Tony Blair is hoping $5.6bn of international aid will be made available to Palestinians at Monday’s donor conference in Paris as part of a wider plan to create an economically independent state of Palestine.
“In order to get a Palestinian state we need to help the Palestinians build the institutions of that state – education, health, economic development, security, governance and so on,” he told Al Jazeera television in an interview to be broadcast today.
A reform development plan will be presented at the Paris meeting, the former British prime minister revealed. “We are looking for around $5.6bn from the international community to support it,” he said.
Blair visited Qatar this week as part of a schedule that took in several Gulf countries. “The European Union and the Americans have made commitments and my own government back in Britain has. Obviously it is important that Gulf countries do as well.
“It is important that we make sure that all Palestinians benefit from this. So some of this money will go in budgetary support, which will go to pay wages, some of it will go to humanitarian support, but a lot of it should go for development money.
“Because if the Palestinian state is going to be successful it has to have the capability to run itself properly, not just from the West Bank, but in Gaza as well,” he said.
“We need increased Palestinian capability, a removal progressively of the Israeli presence and the ability of the Palestinians to have their own homeland where they can govern their own affairs.”
In response to a question about how Hamas would be engaged in this process, Blair said: “Here is the problem very simply with Hamas. I respect the fact that they won the elections. If they want my help, I will help, and if they want our money, which they do from the international community, we have got to agree the terms upon which financial support is to be given.”
He added: “I am also frankly worried about some things that Hamas is doing in Gaza in terms of their restrictions and the treatment of women and so on. In the end, when people say you are isolating Hamas or excluding Hamas, the process is availed to everybody who shares the same basic goals and that is two states.
If Hamas shared that goal and is prepared to deal with it peacefully, fine.”
Blair insisted that, after 40 years of frustrated peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, a negotiated outcome was not impossible if all parties had the will.
“People used to say to me when I came to power in 1997 that in Northern Ireland they have been fighting each other for years. They are never going to stop so what’s the point?
“And the answer then and is now in this situation is that there is no alternative but to try. The difference this time, I think, is that for the first time it’s clear for the whole of the international community that this is a priority.
“It is also a priority for Israel because Israel will have no long term security unless the Palestinians are given a proper state. Of course, this will be done in a way that protects Israel’s security but it also has to be done in a way that gives dignity and respect for Palestinians.”
The interview will be broadcast in full on Al Jazeera Arabic at 5.30pm today and extracts will be shown throughout the day on Al Jazeera English.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=190024&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56
3 comments:
Blair is just that a Poodle to Bush and he could care less about Palestine or there people. He is working for Israel only.
I read this and thought........oh pa leeze....
Nice try but throwing money at the symptom won't cure the whole disease. Israel built settlements over the past 20 years in areas they were not supposed to. Now they did pull out of Gaza which was a start, but they need to pull out of the West Bank, and until they do (if never), the whole disease will continue to exist.
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