Blizzard can't stop Tony Blair from trying to cool Gaza conflict
The Right Honorable Tony Blair kept a crowd of 5,000 Bostonians waiting for an hour Monday evening.
The former British prime minister had a right and honorable reason, though, for his tardy delivery of the annual Issam M. Fares Lecture at Tufts University: Britain鈥檚 deepest snowfall in 18 years had snarled traffic and grounded flights Monday.
鈥淵our snow looks worse and you seem to be functioning perfectly normal. Makes you wonder who鈥檚 been in charge all those years,鈥� Blair said, warming up his audience with a bit of winter weather chit chat.
Then, it was onto hotter topics in hotter lands 鈥� namely, Gaza.
Blair, who for the past 15 months has served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet听(US, United Nations, European Union, and Russia), set the stage for his talk by recounting an earlier visit to one of the region鈥檚 many holy sites. His guide, a Palestinian, lamented: 鈥溾�楳oses, Jesus, Muhammad 鈥� why did they all have to come here?鈥欌��
The region鈥檚 Gordian knot of religion, politics, and history must be untangled soon, Blair said. 鈥淩esolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the single most important thing we can do鈥� to create peace in the region. 鈥淣othing is more important.鈥�
Blair will be working in coming weeks with President Barack Obama鈥檚 newly appointed envoy to the region, George Mitchell. The two men partnered previously on ending the conflict in Northern Ireland. As with Northern Ireland, Blair said, no progress will be made until the opposing sides both agree to lay down their weapons. Hamas must agree to a peaceful process.
Blair also said Western leaders must adopt ground rules that value all lives equally. 鈥淒o we care as much for the suffering of Palestinians as we do for the security of Israel?鈥� he asked.
Following Blair鈥檚 40-minute speech, the president of Tufts, Lawrence Bacow, selected several questions from students, including whether Blair still believes he had cause to support the invasion of Iraq.
Blair, who remains an embattled figure at home for his role in the war, didn鈥檛 answer the question directly, but said the evidence that was presented to him is publicly available and that people should review the evidence, then decide what they would have done. Blair also added: 鈥淚 still don鈥檛 think the region would be more peaceful if Saddam and his two sons were running Iraq.鈥�
Then, onto lighter topics. Although President Obama is famously tethered to his Blackberry device, Blair said he never had even a mobile phone as prime minister. It鈥檚 really exciting to have one,鈥� he said, then addressing a question to the dignitaries on stage: 鈥淒o you guys text yet?鈥�
