Ramallah: A small group of protestors converged on Al Manarah in downtown Ramallah to protest the British Prime Minister’s visit to Palestine, in what was considered Tony Blair’s last attempt at saving face on the domestic front.

The group, which consisted of concerned citizens, who reside and work in Ramallah, became active in July following the outbreak of Israel’s war against Lebanon and in protest to the continued incursions in the Gaza Strip. Yesterday’s protest was in the spirit of free speech, with banners like “Be a darling, Tony, and don’t show your face here,” and in Arabic “Blair - a man of war not peace.” Around 20 members of the group stood their ground for one hour protesting his visit.

While they were unable to stop Blair’s meeting with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, theirs was an exercise in their democratic right to assemble peacefully. The group was able to vent its anger at a British Prime Minister who many Palestinians consider incapable of brokering Middle East peace, despite his claims to be diligently pushing a return to the negotiations table and in pursuit of diplomacy in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

According to Palestinian and British public opinion, Blair’s visit has been commonly compared to former US President Bill Clinton’s attempt at ending his reign at the White House with a Middle East peace deal at Camp David in the summer of 2000. The British Prime Minister, who faces pressures on the home front to set a date for his departure, has been criticized at using his current Middle East tour to seek one last attempt at redemption among the British public, namely due to a general discontent with his performance at No. 10.