On July 15, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the envoy for the
Quartet, canceled a visit to the Gaza Strip. Aides said Blair, who would
have been the first Western dignitary to visit the Hamas regime, was
informed that he was the target of a planned attack inside the Gaza Strip.
"The cancellation was due to a specific security threat which would have
made it irresponsible to proceed, not just for those visiting but also [for]
the local community," Blair's spokesman, Matthew Doyle, said.
An Israeli security source said Defense Minister Ehud Barak telephoned
Blair hours before his scheduled visit to the Gaza Strip. The source said
the Israeli intelligence community received information that Blair's convoy
would be attacked soon after he crossed from Israel into the Gaza Strip.
"There is an element [in the Hamas regime] that is directly controlled
by Iran and other foreign elements," the source said. "They have been
ordered to create a major incident that would end the current ceasefire
[with Israel]."
A Palestinian security official said Iran and Gulf Cooperation Council
states have been financing militias in the Gaza Strip. They said some of the
groups were designed to appear as Al Qaida cells.
Hamas, which blamed Israel and the Palestinian Authority, had deployed
more than 1,000 troops for the Blair visit. The regime cleared the main road
from the northern Gaza border to Gaza City and established checkpoints
throughout the region.
"They didn't want Blair to see the improvement in the security situation
in the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. "The Palestinian
Authority's security forces were responsible for the anarchy and lawlessness
here."
