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Tony Blair: "The Mood within the Arab World towards Israel Has Changed Fundamentally"
(Ha'aretz) Amir Tibon - Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair said on Sunday, "The mood within the Arab world towards Israel has changed fundamentally." As countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Saudi Arabia "are engaged in [a] process of modernization," both in terms of economic liberalization and growing religious tolerance, there has been a growing appreciation for Israel's openness and technological prowess, as well as its consistent opposition to Iran. Blair, a former envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East who heads the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said young people in the region "look at Iran, and all the repression that's happening there, [and] they look at Israel. And they think, not just on security grounds, but on the grounds of the type of society they want to see: 'Why should they be hostile to Israel?'" Blair explained that "in recent years, myself, my institute, my office in Israel, have focused on how we bring about better relationships between Israel and the Arab nations. Because I think if the region as a whole moves in that direction of modernization and rapprochement, then you've got a much better opportunity at resolving the Palestinian issue as well."