Ex-UK envoy claims Tony Blair urged Palestinian Authority to remove 'Palestine' from textbooks

Former British ambassador to the UN Jeremy Greenstock accused former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair of asking the Palestinian Authority (PA) to remove any mention of the word 'Palestine' from schoolbooks.Greenstock, who held the ambassador role between 1998 and 2003 and then served as Special Representative for Iraq, made the claims while on the David Hearst Podcast on Wednesday. Hearts is Middle East Eye's (MEE) Editor-in-Chief."[Blair] 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 7 October onwards," Greenstock told Hearst, recalling information he allegedly received from a ministerial level source."Mahmoud Abbas would do no such thing," he continued.