Blair 'lined up' to lead new Gaza authority

The White House is backing a plan under which the former prime minister Tony Blair would head a temporary administration of the Gaza Strip, initially without the direct involvement of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to reports in the Israeli media.

- Patrick Wintour

Under the proposal, Blair would head a body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority, Gita, which would have a mandate to be Gaza’s “supreme political and legal authority” for as long as five years.

According to reports in Haaretz and the Times of Israel, the plan is modelled on the administrations that initially oversaw East Timor and Kosovo’s transitions to statehood. The proposal suggests that Gita could at first be based in el-Arish, an Egyptian provincial capital near Gaza's southern border, then eventually enter the territory accompanied by a UN-endorsed largely Arab multinational force. The plans envisions "the eventual unifying of all the Palestinian territory under the PA".

Under the plan, Palestinians would not be made to leave the territory, as had been feared would occur under previous US proposals to develop the "Gaza Riviera".