Review 22.7
11 May - 5 Jun , 1997

The victory of Tony Blair and New Labour in the British general elections is a major revolution in British politics. The direction of the Blair revolution is still unclear on issues as diverse as Europe, taxation, social spending or the British Consititution. Britian's policies on the Middle East are similarly hard to fathom under the new government; in fact, they are even harder than many of the aforementioned issues, because at least they were discussed during the British campaign.

The twenty known Jewish MPs in the new parliament, thirteen of whom are Labour, (six Tories and one Liberal Democrat) will certainly give Blair's government access to a pro-Israel viewpoint within its ranks.

Under John Major, Israeli-British relations became as close as they have ever been. Tourism and trade are at high levels, scientific and cultural agreements were signed, and there were a series of two-way visits by top Israeli and British ministers and officials, culminating in a State visit to Britian by Israeli President Weizmann in February.

Blair's new Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, started on a good note with Jewish voters, promising on his first day in office, that Britain will host a July conference on the fate of the residue of Nazi gold still believed held by the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve. Cook said that only a "minute amount" of gold taken from Nazi victims in the reserves, this did not diminish the "moral case that some of the money should be used as reparation to the victims of Nazi atrocities."

Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett will be placed in charge of Middle Eastern Affairs. Mr Fatchett is reported to be supportive of Israel and to maintain contacts with Labour Friends of Israel.

The expectation in Britain is that the Blair Government will follow a line on Israel and the peace process similar to that of Major. This means support for the peace process with an emphasis on "Palestinian rights", no recognition of Israeli claims to any part of East Jerusalem, or the West Bank, and strong condemnation of settlements there, which will be labelled "illegal." There are some predictions that the more pro-European line of Blair may cause him to allow Paris, with its far more pro-Arab stand , to take the lead in formulating EU policy.

However, combined with these expectations of little change, there is an element of apprehension. Blair's New Labour has made all the right noises on the Middle East, but there is some fear that Old Labour trade unionists, and New Left figures, almost always very strongly anti-Israel, could gain control of Labour party foreign policy. Most analysts are not completely sure about the potential for a swing to the left in the Blair government, despite the fact that the Blair election campaign was designed to disarm precisely these fears. If such a swing did occur, greater anti-Israel tendencies could clearly be one result.