Quartet an American/Israeli 'smoke screen' - Blair's former advisor

26 September 2011

Anis Nacrour, Tony Blair's former advisor in Jerusalem, believes the Quartet on the Middle East is a ‘smoke screen' for America and Israel interests in the region.

In an interview to be aired on Channel 4's Dispatches (Monday 26th September at 8pm) Nacrour also says no code of conduct applies to Tony Blair in his role as the official Envoy to the Quartet. 

Formed by America, the EU, Russia, and the UN, the Quartet is an international diplomatic group involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Anis Nacrour, a senior French diplomat who worked directly for Tony Blair at the Quartet's Jerusalem office for three years as a Political & Security Advisor, says:  "The inception of the idea of a quartet, I think it was how could I say a, a smoke screen for the action of the Americans and in tandem between Americans and Israelis. At the end of the day, all this was erm, buying time for allowing the Israeli government to do whatever they wanted to do."

In his first interview about Tony Blair, Nacrour was asked what code of conduct applies to the former PM.   

"I think he [Blair] makes his own rules depending on the experience he has as a former Prime Minister for over ten years", Nacrour says.  

On the same day Tony  Blair left Downing Street he was appointed Representative to the international diplomatic group known as the Quartet on the Middle East.  

The post is unpaid, but its substantial expenses are part-funded by the British taxpayer and we know almost nothing about the rules that govern how he works.

The interview will be broadcast in Dispatches: The Wonderful World of Tony Blair on Monday 26th September at 8pm on Channel