chickenshorts
27.04.04, 02:14
Diplomats attack Blair's Israel policy
Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Monday April 26, 2004
Tony Blair's foreign policy was under scrutiny tonight after an unprecedented
coalition of more than 50 former diplomats attacked his policy on the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict.
The virtually unprecedented letter criticises the prime minister for claiming
influence over the US president, George Bush, and American policy, then
backing the Israel policy when it was already "doomed to failure".
The document's coordinator, Oliver Miles, a former ambassador to Greece, said
they did not intend to damage Mr Blair politically but simply wanted to make
their voice heard.
They told Mr Blair they had "watched with deepening concern" as Britain
followed the US lead in Iraq and Israel and called for a debate in
parliament. The diplomats, who include former ambassadors to Baghdad and Tel
Aviv, urge the prime minister to regain a say in US foreign policy over the
Middle East as "a matter of the highest urgency".
"We feel the time has come to make our anxieties public, in the hope that
they will be addressed in parliament and will lead to a fundamental
reassessment," the letter said.
Mr Blair met Mr Bush in Washington for a brief summit earlier this month
where he agreed with the president that Ariel Sharon's withdrawal from the
Gaza strip - linked to fixity for several illegal settlements in the West
Bank - was both an "opportunity" and did not detract from the US/UK
backed "roadmap".
Many commentators saw President Bush's declaration of support for the twin-
state "roadmap" solution - for the first time publicly backing a Palestinian
state - as a "reward" to Mr Blair's powers of persuasion following UK backing
of the US position on the Iraq war.
The 52 diplomats urged Mr Blair to use his alliance with Mr Bush to
exert "real influence as a loyal ally ... If that is unacceptable or
unwelcome, there is no case for supporting policies which are doomed to
failure."
The ambassadors also accuse the US-led coalition of having "no effective
plan" for Iraq after the war and an apparent disregard for the lives of Iraqi
civilians.
They said Mr Blair had "merely waited" for the US to advance a "road map" for
peace that had raised expectations of a lasting Israeli-Palestinian
settlement.
They condemned Mr Bush's decision to endorse an Israeli plan to retain some
settlements in the West Bank as an illegal and one-sided step - and
criticised Mr Blair's public support for the move.
"Our dismay at this backward step is heightened by the fact that you yourself
seem to have endorsed it, abandoning the principles which for nearly four
decades have guided international efforts to restore peace in the Holy Land,"
the diplomats said.
They urged Mr Blair to act urgently to challenge the UK's portrayal as a
partner in US policies condemned by the Arab and Muslim world.
News of the letter comes on the day that the Foreign Office announced its new
ambassador to Iraq and plans for a large new embassy in Baghdad when the
Coalition Provisional Authority hands over to the US-appointed Iraqi Interim
Government on July 1