london | Asked if British Prime Minister Tony Blair believed his support for Israel during the war had hurt his popularity, he said, “It was not, probably, a very popular decision in the U.K.”
He recently announced that he will resign within a year.
Escaping the media onslaught at home, Blair traveled to the Middle East to try to reinvigorate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. During his first stop, Sunday, Sept. 10, he met with Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert and, later, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Both Olmert and Abbas said they were ready to talk to one another without preconditions, which was considered a success for Blair.
On Monday, Sept. 11, Blair received a far colder reception when he made the first visit to Lebanon by a British prime minister, meeting with Lebanon’s prime minister, Fouad Siniora.
With protests raging outside, Blair defended his refusal to press for a quick cease-fire. Blair had argued that a resolution ending the war would hold only if it addressed the underlying issues, even if that took more time.
Blair said the key to peace in the region is a “meaningful, just and lasting resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” and vowed to dedicate his remaining days in office to the cause.
After details of the government’s policy on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict were explained during a closed briefing in mid-August, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the central address for Britain’s Jewish community, issued a press release “welcoming the government’s efforts, through the auspices of the U.N. and other diplomatic channels, to broker a lasting peace, and the recognition that this can only come about through the disarmament of Hezbollah.”
But the statement made no specific mention of Blair.
And even with Blair on the way out, the government’s Mideast policy isn’t expected to change much.