LONDON: Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair has denied an Israeli media report linking him to talks last week about the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza in other countries.

On Sunday, Channel 12 claimed that Blair, who left office in 2007 and served as a Middle East envoy charged with building up Palestinian institutions, was in Israel last week.

The news channel said he held meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and cabinet member Benny Gantz about a mediation role between Hamas and Israel after the Gaza crisis eases.

He could also act as a go-between with moderate Arab states about the “voluntary resettlement” of Gazans, it added.

Expelling civilians during a conflict or creating unlivable conditions which force them to leave is a war crime. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a non-profit organisation he set up in 2016, said the report was “a lie”.

“The story was published without any contact with Tony Blair or his team. No such discussion has taken place,” it said in a statement on Monday night.

“Nor would Tony Blair have such a discussion. The idea is wrong in principle. Gazans should be able to stay and live in Gaza.”

Unwelcome person

The Palestinian presidency in Ramallah lashed out at the report. The presidency said it would demand that the British government “not allow this meddling with the fate and future of the Palestinian people”.

“We also consider Tony Blair to be an unwelcome person in the Palestinian territories,” it said, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Channel 12 report came after two far-right Israeli ministers called for Jewish settlers to return to the Gaza Strip and that Palestinians should be encouraged to emigrate.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, told Israeli army radio: “To control the territory militarily for a long time, we need a civilian presence.”

And on Monday, Israel’s firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said: “We must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza’s residents.” UN chief Antonio Guterres and the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, are among those who have spoken out against the possible forced transfer of Gazans.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2024