If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for reading!

I wrote this last month and submitted it to the New York Times, LA Times and San Francisco Chronicle among others—all without a positive reply.

* * *

Easing into his new position as Special Envoy to the Middle-East, Tony Blair has wasted no time in pursuing a break in the ever-moribund peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has assured Blair that Israel will provide “all necessary assistance” to facilitate his mission and Blair himself is already busily at work—holding daily meetings with various community leaders in hopes of establishing a foundation for dialog. There is only one problem: Israel is consciously blocking Mr. Blair’s efforts by preventing a senior human rights lawyer in the Gaza Strip from traveling to Jerusalem.

Raji Sourani, the director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a well-respected independent NGO based in Gaza City, was blocked from attending a meeting with Mr. Blair last week. Why? Well no specific reason was actually provided. Such restrictions have become a matter of routine in Gaza, but the political undertones in this case are especially reprehensible.

Sourani, a veteran human rights defender, is the recipient of numerous international awards and was twice named Amnesty International’s Prisoner of Conscience during the 1980s. In the past, he has participated in countless international forums in cities all over the world. It is inconceivable that Israel would deny Sourani permission to leave Gaza, yet this is precisely what has happened.

Looking into the matter, it seems Sourani has been denied permission to leave Gaza since Hamas seized control of the Strip last June, causing him to cancel appearances at over a dozen international human rights conferences and severely limiting his ability to relate Gaza’s human rights situation to the international community. Of course, no one would deny that some measures must be taken to prevent would-be terrorists from launching attacks against the Jewish state, but Israel’s decision to restrict Sourani’s travel in this way is a clear abuse of power and a conscious obstruction to Mr. Blair’s mission.

The consequences of Israel’s decision in this matter can be pared down to a couple of significant problems. Firstly, Mr. Sourani’s case exhibits the high level of control Israel continues to exercise in the Gaza Strip. The 2005 unilateral disengagement did mitigate some aspects of occupation, especially the removal of Israel’s military presence in the region. But we should be under no illusions that Israeli disengagement reduced the occupation to anything less than “occupation lite”; Israel’s retention of absolute control over Gaza’s borders, airspace and coastline coupled with the willingness to launch massive military incursions on a whim can hardly be regarded as benign external influence. Any attempts at reconciliation on Mr. Blair’s behalf will have to take this into account.

Secondly, this case surely demonstrates Israel’s disdain for Tony Blair’s wider mission in the Middle-East and exposes the concerted effort to keep him marginalized—just as was the case with Blair’s predecessor, James Wolfensohn, who resigned in frustration over American and Israeli attempts to undermine his work. During his tenure as Envoy, Wolfensohn invested much of him time on economic development plans in the Gaza Strip, even putting £300,000 of his own money towards a greenhouse project for Palestinian farmers. When it came time to launch the plan, Israel sealed Gaza’s border and halted all exports. Speaking to the press last July, Mr. Wolfensohn said that, without a greater mandate to pursue peace, Tony Blair is wasting his time.

The recent spat over Raji Sourani’s travel restrictions bodes ill for the future. It certainly appears that Blair has inserted himself into the same futile situation, struggling to deconstruct a matrix of manipulation and distrust, which will ultimately undercut any progress. It seems that Mr. Sourani’s travel ban merely represents a fraction of the obstruction Blair is up against in the Middle-East. He is sure to encounter much worse.

* Kris Petersen is a graduate student conducting research in the Gaza Strip. He runs a news/commentary blog at harmonicminor.com

Blogged with Flock

Tags: TonyBlair, Israel, Palestine, Occupation, James Wolfensohn, UNRWA, Development, Economy, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Raji Sourani, Palestinian Center For Human Rights, Closure, Kris Petersen