The White House is supporting a plan to have Sir Tony Blair lead a temporary administration to govern the Gaza Strip, according to reports.
The former prime minister would lead a supervisory body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority (Gita), which would serve as the “supreme political and legal authority” for up to five years, and is understood to exclude the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Gita could be based in Arish, the capital of an Egyptian province near the southern border of Gaza, according to the proposal. The board would then enter the strip, supported by an Arab multinational force endorsed by the United Nations.
The plan, modelled on strategies employed in the transitions to statehood of Timor-Leste and Kosovo, would envision “the eventual unifying of all the Palestinian territory under the PA”. Palestinians would not be made to leave the region, as feared by human rights groups, according to the report.
The seven-person board, if approved, would oversee an executive board running the territory with Sir Tony leading a secretariat of up to 25 people.
According to Israeli media, an international force would be stationed across Gaza’s borders to prevent the regrouping of Hamas. A source told Haaretz that the plan was “taking shape” and had the full support of the US president, Donald Trump, and that Israeli officials had not yet rejected it.
The source added that a timetable for the PA’s return to governance had not been specified.
“There is concern that [Israel’s prime minister] Netanyahu will take advantage of this ambiguity to sabotage the PA’s involvement in Gaza,” they continued. Diplomats have said his role was being considered but is “not a done deal”, according to the BBC.
Sir Tony’s involvement would be controversial, and his rumoured role in recent talks has triggered a backlash because of his legacy with the widely criticised British and US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Last month, he was part of a meeting with President Trump to discuss Israel’s war in Gaza and post-war plans for the Palestinian territory.
In July, there were reports that the Tony Blair Institute had participated in a project to develop the plan. The think tank said its talks with different groups on post-war reconstruction of Gaza had not included the idea of the forcible relocation of people from the area.
The Blair plan is said to be anchored on the dismantling of Hamas and a diminished role for the PA. This was roundly rejected by Hamas, which previously told The Independent it had not seen the proposal.
“No party has the right to dismantle any Palestinian faction. The one that needs to be dismantled is the occupation,” a Hamas official said anonymously, adding that Palestinians would not accept a deal they had not voted on or been consulted on.
“We will not allow the Palestinians to have anything dictated to them against their will,” he said.
The plan may also be unpopular with far-right ministers in the Israeli cabinet, including finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who previously said he was in talks with the US about dividing the territory up, promising a “real-estate bonanza”.
More than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including over 20,000 children, according to local officials. A recent UN investigation concluded that Israel was committing genocide. Israel has called the claim “false” and “distorted”.
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