A plan for a postwar Gaza governing authority potentially headed by the former UK prime minister Tony Blair would sideline key Palestinian political figures, while giving significant authority to its chair on most key issues, according to a leaked confidential proposal.
The 21-page draft document, seen by the Guardian and Haaretz in Israel, envisions the governance and reconstruction of postwar Gaza being led by international officials, with Palestinians relegated to subsidiary roles. It also proposes a Gaza investment promotion and economic development authority involving “public-private partnerships and blended finance instruments” aimed at delivering “commercially viable returns” for investors.
The administration of Gaza would also split off from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The Guardian has confirmed the document – labelled confidential – is genuine and was drawn up in the last fortnight.
No Palestinian figures are mentioned by name in the document but it lists several prominent outsiders for potential roles, including the Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, Marc Rowan of Apollo Global Management, and Aryeh Lightstone of the Abraham Peace Accords Institute, a former senior adviser to Donald Trump’s first ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
Sources close to those behind the document suggested that the names had been included for illustrative purposes without the individuals’ permissions.
The draft for the so-called Gaza International Transitional Authority (Gita) puts substantial flesh on reporting of the ideas that Blair and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are reported to have been circulating, including that Blair “wants” the role of running Gaza.
Palestinian critics who have seen the proposal – and who have long viewed Blair with suspicion – warned that Gita would be a “disaster” for Palestine, creating an alternative jurisdiction in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The proposal was leaked before a planned Oval Office meeting Netanyahu and Trump when the US president is expected to lay out his “plan” for Gaza’s postwar governance and reconstruction. Trump is also expected to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, leaving Netanyahu with few options.
As previously reported, Gita would operate initially out of El-Arish in Egypt, close to Gaza’s southern border, and be led by a council of seven to 10 members approved by the UN security council.
Only one of that group is envisaged as being Palestinian, “from the business or security sector”, the leaked document says, while it lists potential “leading international figures with executive or financial experience”.
It would also include “a strong representation of Muslim members to secure regional legitimacy and cultural credibility”, suggesting figures perhaps nominated by Gulf states or Egypt.
The council, the document makes clear, would issue “binding decisions” and approve legislation and major appointments and report to the UN security council.
It is clear that the document sees the chair as holding overarching authority within the body, setting the “political and strategic direction for Gita” in consultation with the board and the Palestinian Authority. The chair would also lead diplomacy and strategic security diplomacy with external actors including Israel, Egypt and the US. There is no mention in this latter context of the Palestinian Authority.
“You would have a council with a majority of foreign members legislating for Palestinians in Gaza,” said Xavier Abu Eid, a former member of the PLO’s diplomatic negotiating team. “There is already suspicion of Tony Blair because of the Palestinian experience when he was the Quartet representative [of the UN, US, EU and Russia mediation group].
“But the biggest is over what it means for Palestine as a single political entity, something that was recognised even by Israel in the Oslo Accords. This plan effectively legally separates Gaza from the West Bank and does nothing to explain how they will remain part of the same territory.”
A source who spoke to the Guardian said that while Blair had been involved in talks, the former UK prime minister was clear that “the guiding principle is that Gaza is for Gazans, with no displacement of the population”.
“We do not support or endorse any proposal that involves the displacement of Gazans,” the source said, adding: “The document states that any transitional governing body for Gaza would ultimately return authority to the Palestinian Authority, as part of a pathway toward a Palestinian state.”
The leaking of the draft plan follows reports in recent days that Blair has been involved in discussions about leading a postwar transitional authority in Gaza.
Under the proposal, said to have backing from the White House, Blair would lead a governing authority supported by the UN and Gulf nations before handing back control to Palestinians. His office said he would not support any proposal that displaced the people of Gaza.
Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative and a critic of Blair, told the Washington Post on Monday: “We’ve been under British colonialism already. He has a negative reputation here. If you mention Tony Blair, the first thing people mention is the Iraq war.”
While Blair is understood to have recently met the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Trump earlier this summer, it is unclear how much the Palestinians were briefed on the proposal.
The UK deputy prime minister, David Lammy, until recently the foreign secretary, said he had no idea if Blair would take such a role.
“I would say that it’s hugely important that there is a transition to a Palestinian authority,” he told a fringe event at the Labour party conference.
“And clearly any authority, in terms of its administration, the policing of Gaza or rebuilding of Gaza, would have to have the confidence of Palestinian people, and so I suspect it would have to include leadership that they can identify with.
“I’ve seen speculation about Tony. I have no idea whether that is a serious proposition. I suspect Tony might play a part, or has a role potentially to play, but there’s quite a lot of dimensions as to the governance of Gaza afterwards.”
Trump’s proposal to stop the war in Gaza calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages within 48 hours, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territory, according to three Arab officials briefed on the plan.
Blair, who took the UK into the Iraq war in 2003, served as Middle East envoy for the quartet of international powers – the US, EU, Russia and UN – after stepping down as prime minister.
He focused on economic development in the Palestinian territories and laying the groundwork for a two-state solution.
In August, he joined a White House meeting with Trump to discuss plans for the territory, which the US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said were “comprehensive”.
Additional reporting by Peter Walker and Frances Mao
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