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It’s a very negative signal that the International Quartet Envoy Tony Blair’s planned trip to the Gaza was cancelled yesterday, Tuesday 15th July, following what was described as “specific security threats that made the visit impossible”.

As a delegation of the European Parliament we visited, last June, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem. Our visit in Gaza was perfectly coordinated by UNRWA, and we didn’t feel any sort of insecurity, but only despair and responsibility looking at the living conditions of the Palestinian population under an illegal siege (don’t worry we also went to see the danger and the damages of the rockets fired on Sderot).

I really hope that the Israeli authorities’ pressures or other forces are not behind this decision by Tony Blair not to go to Gaza Strip, using the threat of security in order to prevent to witness the disaster of the blockade.

Palestinians, both in West Bank and in Gaza Strip, deplored the fact that Tony Blair had never visited the Strip, despite of the duties related to his role as Quartet Representative that include mobilizing international assistance to the Palestinians, working closely with donors and others, as well as helping to implement plans and concrete projects aimed to promote Palestinian economic development. (more…)

There are times when one tragedy, one crime tells us how a whole system works behind its democratic facade and helps us to understand how much of the world is run for the benefit of the powerful and how governments lie. To understand the catastrophe of Iraq, and all the other Iraqs along imperial history’s trail of blood and tears, one need look no further than Diego Garcia.

The story of Diego Garcia is shocking, almost incredible. A British colony lying midway between Africa and Asia in the Indian Ocean, the island is one of 64 unique coral islands that form the Chagos Archipelago, a phenomenon of natural beauty, and once of peace. Newsreaders refer to it in passing: “American B-52 and Stealth bombers last night took off from the uninhabited British island of Diego Garcia to bomb Iraq (or Afghanistan).” It is the word “uninhabited” that turns the key on the horror of what was done there. In the 1970s, the Ministry of Defence in London produced this epic lie: “There is nothing in our files about a population and an evacuation.” (more…)

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.

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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. (more…)