Blair cancels Gaza trip over attack threat

MIDDLE EAST envoy Tony Blair yesterday called off what would have been the first visit of a top Western diplomat to Gaza, after Israel’s Shin Bet security service said he might come under attack there.

The service said it had received “pinpoint information that Palestinians were planning to attack Blair in Gaza, so the relevant services alerted him to the fact”.

Blair said the threat was “specific” and “credible,” forcing him to call off the trip but he said it was a postponement, not a cancellation.

“I intend to go to Gaza as soon as I can, and I will continue to press for help for the people there,” he said.

Blair’s visit yesterday was to have included a tour of a Gaza waste water project and meetings with traders and UN officials, but not with leaders of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that seized Gaza by force more than a year ago.

Hamas made security arrangements for Blair, setting up checkpoints in areas he was expected to tour, banning cars from using roads and lining streets with black-clad policemen carrying AK-47s.