According to several British newspapers, former Prime Minister Tony Blair (Labour) held a secret meeting at the White House to discuss his becoming an advisor to President Donald Trump on the Middle East.
According to the reports, Blair has met three times in secret with the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner since September 2016. It is possible that the fact that the meetings are being leaked suggest the appointment is about to be announced.
After leaving office in 2007, Blair served as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of the EU, the US, the UN and Russia.
The Mail on Sunday cited “a well placed source” who stated that “Blair has been pitching hard for this job and Trump’s people are taking him very seriously.”
In May 2008, Blair announced a new plan for peace and based mostly on the Peace Valley plan, an effort to promote economic cooperation among Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, based on efforts and joint projects in the Arava Valley, along the Israel-Jordan border. In 2005, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority asked the World Bank to analyze the feasibility of this idea.
The formal proposal for the Valley of Peace initiative began with a joint proposal in 2008 to build a canal between the Red and Dead Seas, desalinating the water, producing hydroelectric power and yielding profits, clean water, jobs and potentially unprecedented regional cooperation. The study concluded in 2013, and an agreement was signed in 2013 by Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority to move ahead with the plan.
In February 2015, Israel and Jordan signed an agreement to exchange water and jointly convey Red Sea brine to the shrinking Dead Sea. The agreement was reported to be worth about $800 million. It was the result of a memorandum of understanding signed among Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian Authority officials on December 9, 2013, in Washington. Under this agreement, Jordan and Israel will share the potable water produced by a future desalination plant in Aqaba, while a pipeline will supply saltwater to the Dead Sea.