y Blair: Time to go?
AlJazeera.net
30-Sep-2011

Tony Blair has been a political salesman since he first made his debut at the British Labour Party conference. And he is good, no doubt about that.

Not only because he speaks coherently; he is Scottish after all. Nor is it because he's often compared with George W Bush.

It's because Tony could peddle ideas and sell economic and military agendas better than most.

The question is: Would you buy a used car from Tony?

The Palestinians and the Arabs in general have concluded enough is enough.

Nabil Sha'ath, the Palestinian Authority's first ever foreign minister, told me last year: "Forget Tony Blair. I think Mr Blair is at the wrong time at the wrong place and he’s just making it easier for Mr Netanyahu to deceive us, really, in more ways than one."

Despite their suspicion that Blair betrayed them on more than a few occasions - siding with Israel behind their backs - he remained set in his position shuttling between Jerusalem, London and Washington.

And last week, Blair was dispatched to sell US and Israeli arguments for rejecting the Palestinian request for membership to reluctant UN Security Council members. He went beyond the call of duty.

There is always something for Tony in what Tony does, and nowadays he's trying to renew his tenure as the international Quartet's point man on Palestine. The Quartet, composed of the US, EU, UN and Russia, is supposedly responsible for making peac... >>>

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