Gary Fitleberg, December 21, 2004

Blair and the British are pushing a proposed "peace" between Arab "Palestinians" and Israel to create a second Arab "Palestine" in the Middle East. According to the Balfour Declaration, the land mass now comprising Israel, Jordan and part of Syria was set aside as homeland for the Jewish people and State of Israel. The British gave the larger piece of land in a political appeasement and concession to the Arabs which became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, formerly Transjordan, according to the British Mandate or Palestine Mandate.

Prime Minister Tony Blair will devote two hours to his meeting with Sharon, followed by a joint news conference. From there he will go to the King David Hotel for a 10-minute meeting with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, a 20-minute meeting with Labor Party leader and former premier Shimon Peres and a 15-minute meeting with Industry Minister Ehud Olmert.

Only then will Blair head to Ramallah, for a meeting with PA/PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA/PLO Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.

The centerpiece of Blair's visit is his initiative for a conference in London focused on strengthening the new Arab "Palestinian" leadership. Sharon said that Israel will support the conference but will not attend. He said the conference is meant to influence the promotion of reforms in the PA/PLO, and to consolidate support for a sweeping plan to rehabilitate Gaza and the Arab "Palestinian" economy.

"Since the initiative is meant to deal with the relationship between the ‘Palestinians’ and the donor countries, there is no point to us attending, because it will transform the conference into something political. The goal is to encourage the new leadership to impose law and order, back to normal life and a war on terror, and our presence won't help and could hurt," said Sharon during a meeting with officials from the Anti-Defamation League.

Britain told Israel that the London conference will meet at the end of February at the foreign minister's level, and that the incoming U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be attending as well as counterparts from Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf states, G-8 countries, donor countries and the World Bank.

The conference agenda is to focus on Arab "Palestinian" commitments to security, law and order, the struggle against terror and economic reforms. The British are promising that the Arab "Palestinians" will not receive any promises in Israel's name, and that if the conference is successful a follow-up session will be held.

Gary Fitleberg is a Political Analyst specializing in International Relations with emphasis on Middle East affairs.

Copyright © 2004 Gary Fitleberg