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britain minister middle east The matter has been escalated sir tony blair To be part of the board’s operations Gaza After agreeing to the second phase of the peace agreement.
Concerns are still high that the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel may not hold, minister hamish falconer Has extolled the virtues of the former Prime Minister in an exclusive interview with The Independent.
The minister, whose portfolio includes North Africa and plays a key role in the migrant crisis, refused keir starmerThe decision to cut international aid has led to illegal flows of people to Europe and Britain.
Addressing the ongoing situation in Gaza, he said: “I think Tony Blair obviously has a huge amount of experience on Middle East and IRA disarmament issues.
“He obviously has a real contribution to make. The questions around Phase 2 have to be negotiated, and we want to make sure the peace board works for everyone. But obviously, Tony Blair has a real contribution to make.”
Former Prime Minister Trump has been involved in discussions with the White House and has been considered as a possible candidate to help run Gaza if Phase 2 of the agreement can be completed. He has worked closely with Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in drafting the peace plan.
Supporters say the former prime minister played a key role in ending the problems in Northern Ireland and is trusted by Israel as well as Arab countries.
Critics in the UK point to Sir Tony’s role in the Iraq War which destabilized the region and ultimately led to his ouster as Prime Minister in 2007.
But with claims that Israel and Hamas are both breaking the existing ceasefire despite hostage and prisoner exchanges, Mr Falconer, a former diplomat and now MP for Lincoln, warned that Phase 1 cannot be taken lightly.
He said: “It is absolutely vital that the ceasefire holds and that we move on to the really important questions in Phase 2.
“I know incredibly deeply how important the ceasefire is, for the people of Gaza, for the people we are trying to support through medical evacuations and other things, for the stability and security it can give Israel and the entire region to know that this war, which was so devastating, is over.
“Obviously, the phase one issues, the ceasefire questions, are not everything. They are extremely important. But we need to move on to the phase two questions, and those are the ones about which the Peace Board, the Technical Committee for Gaza, all those more complex questions that are set out in the 20-point plan, are really very relevant.”
the minister spoke Independent His role also covers North Africa and the migrant crisis from a migrant processing center in Algeria.
He warned that the “simple slogans” used by the previous Tory government along with the “stop the boats” mantra were not the solution to “a complex problem”.
But he also rejected criticism that canceling international aid in the region and elsewhere is exacerbating the migrant crisis.
He said: “I used to deliver international aid, and I will just say on that I am a big believer in the importance of aid, and for example, we are really proud as Middle East Minister to deliver aid to Gaza, which is very important and necessary.
“We have also limited aid to Sudan given the seriousness of its situation. But I would also say that for example, I lived in South Sudan for two years.
“It’s one of the poorest places in the world, but there aren’t huge numbers of South Sudanese people on the boats. In fact, they are a much smaller part of the population than, for example, there are a lot of Iraqi Kurds from very rich countries such as Iraqi Kurdistan who travel to Iraqi Kurdistan.
“Kurdistan is by no means as poor as other places. So it’s not that I’m not disputing the importance of the budget and the contribution that upstream work can make.
“But I think we also need to focus on the flows as they really are, and that’s certainly when you look at the top five, top 10 countries of origin of people on small boats, they’re not necessarily the five poorest almost war-torn countries. So I’m really interested in the exact mechanisms of these flows and what we can do to crack down on them.”