Exclusive: Blair asked PA to remove 'Palestine' from textbooks, former UK envoy says
Exclusive: Blair asked PA to remove 'Palestine' from textbooks, former UK envoy says Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was recently sent by Donald Trump's Board of Peace to ask the Palestinian Authority (PA) to replace any mention of the word "Palestine" in schoolbooks with the Jewish designation of "Samaria", Middle East Eye has heard. Jeremy Greenstock, who was Britain's ambassador to the UN…
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, tasked by Donald Trump's Board of Peace, approached the Palestinian Authority (PA) requesting the removal of the term "Palestine" from school textbooks, according to Jeremy Greenstock, a former UK ambassador to the UN. Greenstock, who served as Britain's ambassador to the UN from 1998 to 2003, disclosed this information during a recent interview on the David Hearst Podcast.
He explained that Blair aimed to pressure the PA, asserting that if the organization genuinely sought to negotiate an agreement with Israel to bring an end to the Gaza conflict, the word "Palestine" should be eliminated from educational materials. However, Greenstock noted that the PA's President, Mahmoud Abbas, rejected the proposal.
Furthermore, Greenstock highlighted that Blair was currently facing challenges in his new capacity overseeing postwar management of Gaza for the Board of Peace. He received the news of Blair's request from a ministerial-level source.
Written by urgent.news from Middle East Eye's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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