EXCLUSIVE: Blair met Khaled Meshaal to negotiate end of Gaza siege

The talks are seen as proof that the Quartet’s eight-year-old conditions that Hamas recognise Israel before negotiations start have failed -

6/21/2015

Tony Blair met Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, twice in Doha to negotiate a plan to end the eight-year-long siege of Gaza, Middle East Eye has learned.

Blair met Meshaal before his resignation as Middle East envoy for the Quartet in May, but dialogue with him and his officials is still continuing, MEE understands.

Blair, accompanied by other former British officials, discussed how to end the siege of Gaza. The core issues are a ceasefire, which could be a rolling one, in exchange for Gaza securing a sea port and possibly an airport. The terms of the ceasefire, and its duration, as well as other details of the agreement are yet to be specified.

Blair is one of a number of UN and European envoys to visit Gaza in the last six months. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Mohammed al-Emadi, president of the Qatari National Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, Paul Garnier, the Swiss ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, and Frank-Walter Steinmeyer, the German foreign minister, have all recently made the same trip. Steinmeyer called Gaza a “powder keg” that is at risk of exploding.

But the Doha dialogue between Blair and Meshaal is regarded as the most serious and sustained to take place with the Palestinian group so far. MEE understands that Blair is talking with the support of British Prime Minister David Cameron, Washington, the EU and with the knowledge of the Israelis, and two Arab states.

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