Blair directed PA to eliminate mention of 'Palestine' from textbooks, former UK envoy reveals

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has been tasked by a body set up by US President Donald Trump to approach the Palestinian Authority (PA) and propose removing the term "Palestine" from school textbooks, replacing it with the Jewish name "Samaria."

Jeremy Greenstock, who served as Britain's ambassador to the UN from 1998 to 2003, said on Wednesday that Blair sought to influence the Palestinian Authority.

He stated that if the PA wished to be recognized by the so-called Board of Peace as a legitimate partner capable of negotiating a resolution with Israel to conclude the genocidal war in Gaza, the term "Palestine" should be removed from educational materials.

Greenstock said in an extensive interview on the David Hearst Podcast that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the request. 

Greenstock further noted that his former superior was facing “challenges” in his new position managing the postwar administration of Gaza for the board.

 “He recently, I understand, was asked by the Board of Peace to go to Ramallah and ask to remove from the Palestinian curriculum any mention of the word Palestine if they were to be treated by the Board of Peace as capable of coming to an agreement with Israel to end the current conflict that had stemmed from October 7 onwards,” Greenstock said, adding that the information was obtained from a source at the ministerial level.

“President Mahmoud Abbas said he would do no such thing," he said.

“But the very fact that the Board of Peace could ask for that to be done in the Palestinian educational curriculum makes me wonder what principles the Board of Peace is working on, and what understanding they have of justice, of the sense of fairness, of the history of all of this,” Greenstock added.

UK turns Palestine recognition into tool of control

Britain has stated that its formal recognition of the state of Palestine is contingent upon several conditions, which London claims will support the “two-state solution.”

A spokesperson for Blair refuted the claim that the former UK prime minister made such a request. “This is not true and a complete fabrication.”

Blair is known to have travelled to the Israeli-occupied territories in mid-August alongside Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for the so-called Board of Peace.

The trio engaged in intense discussions with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has dismissed the proposed roadmap for Gaza. They then proceeded to Cairo, where they met with a Palestinian technocratic group expected to assume control of Gaza, along with representatives from the Hamas resistance movement.

During the interview, Greenstock was critical of Blair's current role in the Board of Peace, saying he did not think Blair could engage with both sides with the same level of respect.

“Because of his record on Iraq and on Palestine since he left government, he will be seen as prejudiced. So I think he will have, and is having, difficulties.”

Greenstock, who left government service in March 2004, called the Board of Peace an “abstract and arbitrary committee” whose composition would not have any real effect on the ground with either Israel or the Arab side to the question of Palestine.

“I don't think the Board of Peace is a strong enough construct to bear the weight of the difficult decisions that are going to have to be made about the future of the Palestinian territories."

As part of an international campaign, Israel and its allies have been amplifying their endeavors to remove the word Palestine from educational materials and museums.

On Tuesday, Israeli authorities began imposing their curriculum on more than 45,000 Palestinian students in state-run schools in East al-Quds, as part of a wider crackdown on education in the occupied territory.

A revised curriculum is reported to be circulating privately for consultation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

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