The White House is pushing Tony Blair to head a transitional international authority in Gaza.

LondonTony Blair, former British Prime Minister (1997-2007), has once again emerged as a possible key player in a hypothetical post-war scenario in Gaza, in a role reminiscent of the British mandate over Palestine already granted to it by the League of Nations after the First World War. Hours after the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, offered in his virtual address to the United Nations General Assembly a Gaza without Hamas If peace ever comes, several press reports from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel suggest that the White House is considering appointing Blair to lead an interim international administration in the Palestinian territory, now virtually destroyed after two years of massacre and genocide.

According to all these reports, Donald Trump discussed the latest proposals with Arab leaders at the United Nations this week. The key idea is that Gaza will be run by a transitional entity with the support of the UN and the Gulf states, before being returned to Palestinian control, perhaps over a period of five years.

Washington has reportedly accepted Tony Blair as the head of this authority. In fact, A few weeks ago, the former prime minister discussed several possibilities at the White House.Diplomatic sources citing both the BBC and the Financial Times They point out that this option is not closed down, but rather is one of those on the table. In any case, it would be an alternative to the current endless destruction, about which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will very likely address this Friday, early in the afternoon in Catalonia, when he personally addresses the United Nations.

Last night, Netanyahu met with Trump at the White House. The US president made it very clear that he will not allow Israel to annex parts of the West Bank, as some Israeli ministers had hoped. "It will not happen. Enough. It's time to stop it," he said from the Oval Office. In practice, Israeli settlements have grown in size and number since Israel invaded the West Bank in the 1967 war, extending deep into the territory with a system of roads and other infrastructure under Israeli control, further dividing the land. An Israeli settlement plan known as Project E1, which would divide the occupied West Bank and separate it from East Jerusalem, received final approval in Israel in August, Reuters reports. It would thus cross the territory of the supposed future Palestinian state.

Washington's plans, with Blair at the center, have the support of the United Kingdom. For its part, Saudi Arabia demands that any post-war plan lead irreversibly to the establishment of a Palestinian state. France, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal They were the last countries to officially recognize the Palestinian state, just before the start of the UN General Assembly, in an attempt to facilitate the withdrawal of both states. But these initiatives have been harshly condemned by Israel. Netanyahu has warned that the state of Palestine "will never exist" and has announced that he will continue to maintain illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Blair, 72, has been working for months through his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute, in a proposal for the "day after," which he himself has presented in Washington and Arab capitals. Its central idea is the creation of the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA), a UN-endorsed structure that would exercise "supreme political and legal authority" for the aforementioned period of up to five years. The model, according to the documents consulted, is inspired by the provisional administrations that accompanied the transitions of East Timor and Kosovo to independent states.

European proposals

Trump's plan coincides on several points with Blair's initiative, but also incorporates elements of other European and Arab proposals, according to the media. It proposes the establishment of a Palestinian committee of technocrats with international supervision, the deployment of a multinational security force—with a majority of Arab countries—and the explicit commitment that there will be no forced displacement of the Ghazian population. The objective is to reach a permanent ceasefire and free the last hostages that Hamas holds alive, approximately twenty.

Under this scheme, Israel would withdraw its troops to the positions. from the temporary truce of last January-March and withdraw entirely once the international stabilization force is operational. Hamas would be excluded from any role in the government. The Palestinian Authority (PA) would have some role in the transition, but several actors—from some Arab states to the PA itself—are calling for a much broader role to prevent the new structure from being perceived as a covert colonial occupation.

The governing mechanism proposed by the Gita is complex. It would include a council of seven to ten members, with at least one Palestinian, UN representatives, international figures with executive or financial experience, and a strong Muslim presence. A secretariat of up to 25 people and an executive council of five commissioners would oversee key areas: humanitarian affairs, reconstruction, legislation, security, and coordination with the PA. In parallel, a Palestinian Executive Authority (PEA) would manage technocratic ministries—health, education, infrastructure, finance, justice, and social welfare—and professionally recruited and vetted police would maintain law and order. It also provides for a judicial body headed by an Arab jurist and a "property rights preservation unit" to ensure that any voluntary departure of Palestinians does not result in the loss of the right to return or ownership of property.

Obstacles

However, the initiative has provoked strong reluctance. The European Union and several Arab states advocate a more rapid transition to PA control, as outlined in the recent New York Declaration, endorsed by more than 140 countries at the UN General Assembly. The alternative proposal calls for a one-year technocratic government followed by the immediate transfer of power to a reformed PA, with a new Constitution and elections.

As for Tony Blair's role, it generates particular controversy. On the one hand, he has powerful backers within the White House: Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and former advisor, and Steve Witkoff, the president's special emissary, have defended him as the optimal choice to lead the interim administration. Furthermore, Blair enjoys privileged relationships with several golf leaders. On the other hand, many Palestinians view him with hostility, accusing him of having blocked their statehood aspirations during his time as a Quartet envoy (2007-2015) and remembering his involvement in the Iraq War.

Benjamin Netanyahu is also at the center of the debate. The Israeli prime minister has repeatedly vowed to "destroy Hamas" and rejects any role for the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahu broke his last truce in March and is currently leading a new offensive against Gaza City, which he wants to be definitive. His response to Trump's plan today will be crucial and will test how far the US president is willing to push Israel.