The former prime minister told the president that Gazans dreamt of becoming the next Dubai and advised that a peace deal was still possible.
Sir Tony Blair told President Trump that the population of Gaza was desperate for new leadership and dreamt of becoming the next Dubai, The Times understands.
The former prime minister used his White House visit this week to stress that support for Hamas has decreased among Palestinians and to advance his long-term view that they needed to be united under a single government, it is understood.
He said that a peace deal was still possible despite the massive death toll since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 triggered Israel’s devastating military response.
Some of Blair’s ideas gel with Trump’s grandiose vision outlined in February for a “Riviera of the Middle East” but he opposes any permanent relocation of Gazans. His office at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change said Blair had “never authored, developed or endorsed” the idea of relocating Gazans but refused to comment when asked if he thought they should move temporarily to enable reconstruction. This is an idea that has been floated by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who suggested last year that Gazans could be sent to the Negev desert in Israel while their shattered territory is rebuilt.
Blair, 72, was brought into Trump’s inner sanctum for the consultative meeting on the post-war future of Gaza after advising Steve Witkoff, the president’s peace envoy, and Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband who has long had interests in the Middle East.
Read the full article on The Times.