Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, has let it be known that he is available if needed to help in an effort to end the growing crisis in Israel and Palestine.
His office, however, denied a report in the Israeli press that he had already been offered a specific job.
Blair has built extensive contacts in the Middle East, and he worked as special envoy for the Quartet – the UN, the US, the EU and Russia – after leaving Downing Street in 2007, trying to build the Middle East economy.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, would not reject a role for Blair. Both the EU and UN have Middle East envoys.
Blair has strong contacts with the Gulf states. In an earlier period, he played a role behind the scenes encouraging Hamas to change its stance towards Israel, but he has always been implacably opposed to the direction of the Iranian leadership.
His spokesperson said: “As you know, Mr Blair has an office in Israel and has continued to work on issues regarding Israel and the Palestinians. He is obviously discussing the situation with a number of people in the region and elsewhere to see what can be done. But there is no ‘role’ offered or taken.”
It was unlikely Blair would take on a role unless there was a genuine chance to change course on the humanitarian side, an ally said, a sentiment that suggested he would not want to take on a job if there was no change in the Israeli belief that this was a conflict that could be won militarily.
One source added: “Nothing is discussed or decided yet.”
Blair admitted to the journalist Donald Macintyre, the author of a study of Gaza, in 2017 that he regretted the western decision not to engage with Hamas after it won legislative elections in the Palestinian territories in 2006, leaving Hamas largely ostracised and short of political, as opposed to military, options. He said in retrospect the west should have tried to pull Hamas into dialogue.
Blair was appointed Quartet envoy immediately after leaving No 10 in 2007, and resigned in 2015. His job was not general peacemaking, but had a narrower focus on technical topics such as increasing humanitarian aid, strengthening the Palestinian economy, and bolstering governance in the occupied territories, including the Palestinian Authority.
In the role he found himself fighting relatively small battles with Israel to remove dozens of Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, ease the movement of workers, and free the transport of Palestinian products to markets. He also helped boost tourism in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, and helped secure thousands of permits for Palestinian labourers to work in Israel.
Ultimately the scale of the Israeli blockade, born out of Israel’s security fears, made the job untenable since without political coexistence, there was little chance of economic progress on the West Bank.
