Dear friends,
Tony Blair is not a normal politician. He is one of the longest serving Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. Blair's role as Prime Minister was particularly visible in foreign and security policy in the Middle East. From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported the foreign policy of US President George W. Bush, notably by participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq.
On the day he resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, sometimes called the Diplomatic Quartet or Madrid Quartet or simply the Quartet, is a foursome of nations and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Quartet are the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia. The group was established in Madrid in 2002, recalling Madrid Conference of 1991, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
In this exclusive article, he sends clear messages not only to the Muslim Brotherhood but also all leaders in the region! These are some of the important issues highlighted in his article:
1. ''The arrival of a Muslim Brotherhood president in Egypt completes an extraordinary process of change and will naturally be accompanied by mixed emotions''.
2. ''To Egypt, add Tunisia, Libya and Yemen; unrest in Bahrain; tension in Lebanon; a more gentle but still uncertain stand-off in Kuwait. And of course, Syria. And Iran. What is happening is an upheaval whose beginning we know but did not foresee; and whose end we do not know and is unforeseeable''.
3. ''This is not just about oil and energy. In the medium and long term, the US, in particular, is reducing drastically its dependence on the Middle East. Europe will follow suit. But the security issues alone, arising out of this upheaval, are momentous''.
4. ''If, as seems likely, Muslim Brotherhood governments continue to emerge, we have to accept the result and work with them. But we should do so with no illusions and without abrogating our responsibility to argue the case for true democracy''.
5. ''So we should be very clear: democracy is not just a way of voting but a way of thinking. It includes not just the freedom to vote but freedom of expression, media and religion. It is pluralistic in its essence''.
6. ''Remember that in Egypt, yes, the Muslim Brotherhood won a majority. But the outcome was close. There are a lot of worried liberal-minded people there who believe in more secular democracy as we do in the West. They shouldn't be forgotten''.
7. ''We should actively promote evolution. People often say: learn the lesson of Iraq. Actually, I have. It is not that we leave a brutal dictatorship in power. But it is that when the lid comes off a society in this part of the world, run with an iron grip, there is an outpouring of religious, ethnic and tribal forces of disruption that make the pathway to the future very hard to navigate''.
8. ''Third, disregard those who say that because of this spirit of revolution, the Israeli-Palestinian issue no longer counts. It counts. Resolution of it remains as crucial as ever...From my office in Jerusalem I see first-hand the deep nature of this conflict, and the challenge of creating the only solution that works: an Israel secure and recognised by the region, and a viable independent State of Palestine''.
9. ''There is a tendency among politicians to treat issues of religion as if they were really issues of politics. They aren't. They are religious. They have big political consequences, of course. But the politics is derived from religion, not the other way round. A closed-minded view of religion is pumped out from sections of the Middle East to that region and the world. There is no real organised counter argument. It is time to organise''.
10. ''So we have to be engaged in this struggle over the region. We're busy enough with our economic woes. But this challenge is equally daunting and equally urgent''.
If you are interested in reading the whole article, you can do so on:
Remember that this is not the time for people, businessmen or interest groups to think about their own interests only. Lets think for one minute about the best interest of our own beloved region, the cradle of great civilizations and abrahamic religions. We have to learn to engage in dialogue and reconcile to coeixst!
In peace,
Abdel Hamid