The Bulgarian politician will take Blair’s place in the Gaza Peace Council

According to Isna, the Financial Times reported that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will not join the Peace Council to administer the Gaza Strip because the Arab and Islamic countries are against his presence due to Blair’s support for the US attack on Iraq in 2003.

The Financial Times wrote that these countries also expressed their concern that Blair’s appointment to the Gaza Peace Council could marginalize the Palestinians in the administration of the Gaza strip.

According to the report, those close to Blair denied that his appointment had caused regional discontent, noting that the peace council would be made up of current world leaders and that the former British prime minister would be automatically excluded.

However, Blair is expected to join another body called the executive committee, which will also include Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, Steve Wittkoff, the US president’s special envoy, and senior Arab and Western officials.

In the meantime, the Financial Times also reported that Nikolai Mladinov, the former UN coordinator for Middle East peace affairs between 2015 and 2020 and the former defense minister of Bulgaria, is set to head the peace executive committee for the administration of Gaza.

This institution, which was not mentioned in the original version of the Gaza plan, is expected to coordinate the work of the Peace Council and the Palestinian Technical Committee.

The newspaper also noted that Mladinov is likely to take on the role of chief executive, a position originally earmarked for Blair.

The sources added that Mladinov would work with a Palestinian technocrat government.

In this regard, a White House official said that Major General Jasper Jeffers, the commander of CENTCOM, is among the main candidates for the command of this force.

According to this website, Israeli officials said that Michael Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, has informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials that the Trump administration will take over the command of the Gaza Stabilization Force.

Discussions about operational decisions involving the Gaza Stabilization Force and the Peace Council are ongoing, but no final decisions have been made yet, the Telegraph reported, citing a White House official, noting that the United States would not send any ground troops to the Gaza Strip.

Major General Jasper Jeffers is Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff’s top candidate to head the multinational peacekeeping force, the Telegraph reported.

In fact, the Trump administration is seeking to appoint an American general to lead the international stabilization force in Gaza. Of course, White House officials emphasize that there will be no American military presence in Gaza.

A U.S. official and an Israeli official said Jasper Jeffers, chief of special operations at U.S. Central Command, is among the top candidates for the job.

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