Tony Blair's attempt to erase Palestine from textbooks sparks controversy

Allegations that former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair asked the Palestinian Authority to remove the word "Palestine" from the school curriculum and replace it with the term "Samaria" used by Israel have surfaced. Former UN Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, stating it originated from a ministerial-level source, explained that this demand was made. Blair and his institute denied the allegations as "completely false and baseless."

This initiative is assessed as a symbolic erasure asking Palestinians to define their own lands in the language of their occupiers. While Israeli settlers' actions of displacing Palestinians from their homes, burning olive trees, and seizing land continue in the West Bank, the "peace envoy" Blair's curriculum intervention shows distorted priorities. Greenstock's 1998-2003 UN Ambassadorship and role in the Iraq crisis add weight to the allegation.

Blair's history is full of entering the Iraq War on grounds lacking intelligence basis, as revealed by the Chilcot Report, and prioritizing Israel's security demands over Palestinian rights while serving as the Middle East Peace Envoy. The vast sums he earned from Gulf countries and authoritarian regimes through the consultancy firm he founded after leaving Downing Street deepen the contradiction between his diplomatic role and commercial interests. His being one of the biggest Western supporters of the Sisi regime following the 2013 Egypt coup and the Rabaa massacre is another element undermining the seriousness of his advocacy for justice.