New strategy needed for Gaza, says Blair
Quartet Representative Tony Blair has said that a Middle East peace deal “could definitely be done, and it could definitely be done this year” but we need a new and better strategy for dealing with the Gaza Strip.
“I am absolutely passionate about this,” he told The Times. “I believe that the Middle East is a region in transition. The question is transition to where?
"It can go to one of two places. One is where the economy becomes the cutting edge of globalisation so the politics and culture and forces for moderation and modernisation win out.
“Alternatively, it becomes a region dominated by a particular and exclusive and wrong-headed view of Islam and a major threat. Resolving the Arab-Israeli issue would give an enormous boost to the forces of moderation.
"Resolving it would be a hugely symbolic act, not just between Israel and Palestine but Islam and the West between people of different faiths. There is nothing more important to world peace than resolving this question,” he said.
On Gaza, Tony Blair said: "Hamas have a clever strategy, which is why I keep saying we need a clever strategy as well, which helps the people, isolates the extremists and points out the fact that if at any point in time the rockets stop, the whole situation will be transformed.”