A Small Peace of My Mind

Tony Blair’s niece joins Peace Cycle through Occupied Palestine

The niece of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is to brave checkpoints, soldiers and blistering sun to cycle across the Middle East from October 9.

Eight-year-old Alexandra Darby will be joined by her mother Lauren Booth and 15 other cyclists riding from Amman, Jordan, all the way to Jerusalem.

Her uncle Tony Blair, now Middle East Envoy for the Quartet, has so far made no comment on the planned trip.

Alexandra’s journey will be more than a brief sojourn in a comfortable Jerusalem hotel.

She will witness first-hand the devastating fallout of a 61-year conflict.

The Peace Envoy’s niece has taken 2 weeks off school to stay with families on unrecognised land whose homes are regularly threatened with demolition by the Israeli military.

She will visit refugee camps in Jordan, home to Palestinians forced from their land in 1948.

The group of cyclists will track the path of the eight-metre-high Separation Barrier as it snakes through the West Bank.

The fourteen-day cycle will take Alexandra through an historical and tragic landscape, finishing in Jerusalem, the epicentre of centuries-old conflicts.

For more information check out The Peace Cycle website.

Good luck to Miss Darby and all the other cyclists! It’s interesting to note how her uncle, Tony Blair, who is currently ‘Middle East Envoy’ (although exactly what he does remains uncertain) has not yet offered his thoughts about the trip…