Tony Blair recently resigned as Middle East Peace Envoy ofthe ‘Quartet on the Middle East,’ or sometimes simply known as ‘The Quartet.’His resignation ends an eight year tenure as Peace Envoy. Histime in the position has been marked by criticisms and praise, often dependingon how Blair’s track record on the United Kingdom’s foreign policy is seenduring his time as Prime Minister.

Tony Blair assumed the role of Middle East Peace Envoy for the Quartet on the same day that he resigned as Prime Minister of Britain. TheQuarter is made up of the United Nations, the United States, Russia and theEuropean Union.

At the time, Blair’s appointment was opposed by Russia.

There is debate on whether Blair’s time as Peace Envoy was a success or a failure. He has the experience, having played a key role in the GoodFriday Agreement in the Northern Ireland conflict, and in tightening relationswith Libya and Syria prior to the Arab Spring. Some detractors, however, wereless than happy given the human rights records of the latter two and thefindings the Chilcott Inquiry, investigating false evidence used by Tony Blair, as Prime-Minister, and George Bush to justify the invasion of Iraq.

Blair’s remit as Peace Envoy focused mostly on theIsraeli-Palestine conflict, but a consultancy firm that he owns, sitting on theboard, was (and still is) arranging his attendance at conferences and privateconsultations with regional leaders, which made Tony Blair considerably rich and drewcriticism that he did not take his position seriously.

His resignation coincideswith public anger over his demands to be paid more than Bill Clinton for ashorter speech and then dropping out upon being refused, at the Eat food forumfor philanthropists and leaders in Stockholm.

While focusing on his role as the Quartets Peace Envoy, Blairdid not actually achieve any significant agreements between Israel and Palestine which is anothersource of criticism against him.

He had proclaimed, for example, a new peaceplan based on the Peace Valley Plan, championed by Israeli and Palestinianmoderates who wanted to normalise relations with economic cooperation and notably supported by Turkey, Germany or Japan, but nothing was presented. Infact, in 2011 negotiations went backwards over Israel’s refusal to stop demolitions of Palestinian homes and their replacement with settlers.

Theresumption of talks was hailed as an achievement.



The Quartet's ‘Road Map for Peace’ announced by the Quartet, in 2002, before Tony Blair had even started his tenure also saw little progress. HAMAS and Netanyahu’s government are stillpolarized and the humanitarian disaster of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge overrogue HAMAS rocket fire was a 'fresh blight' on any ‘road map for peace.’ Sincehis resignation, Blair has found immediate employment as a spokesperson for anti-semitism with the Jewish organization, European Council on Tolerance andReconciliation, who among other things lobby governments to increase securityat synagogues and Jewish schools.