Today, LFI publishes a new paper: Labour, Israel & Palestine: Lessons from the Blair-Brown years.
Authored by Dr Toby Greene, the paper analyses the context and approach taken by the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and outlines the lessons that can be learnt for our new Labour government.
The Israeli-Palestinian arena presents a crisis more acute than any time since 1948. The destruction and suffering is overwhelming. This has already proven thorny ground for Labour ministers. But the experience of the Blair-Brown years could be instructive for the government in the months ahead.
Labour is right with the fundamentals. The approach in the Blair-Brown years was underpinned by enduring truths: the conflict involves legitimate claims to self-determination of both Jews and Palestinians. In the long run, a two-state solution is the route to reconciling these claims.
The priority now is a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Further stabilising the situation, facilitating reconstruction, and advancing a two-state reality will be achieved incrementally on the ground and at the regional diplomatic level, not through a one-shot bilateral agreement or international declaration.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as challenging and unforgiving as any foreign policy field the government faces, but these lessons from the Blair and Brown years may offer some worthwhile guidance.
The author, Dr. Toby Greene is a Visiting Lecturer at Bar Ilan University. He is the author of the new LFI pamphlet ‘Labour, Israel and Palestine: Lessons from the Blair Brown years’. His book, Blair, Labour and Palestine: Conflicting Views on Middle East Peace After 9/11, was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2013.
Click below for downloadable copy of Labour, Israel & Palestine: Lessons from the Blair-Brown years.
