Alastair Crooke
{{Short description|British diplomat}}
{{Distinguish|Alistair Cooke}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Alastair Crooke
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CMG}}
| image = Alistair Crooke, New America event 2009 (3447231827) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Alastair Crooke in 2009
| office1 = Security adviser to the EU special envoy to the Middle East
| term_start1 = 1997
| term_end1 = 2003
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1949|6|30|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| spouse =
| children = 5
| alma_mater = University of St Andrews
}}
Alastair Warren Crooke CMG (sometimes misspelled as Alistair Crooke), born 30 June 1949, is a former British diplomat, and is the founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum, an organisation that advocates for engagement between political Islam and the West.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alastaircrooke|title=Alastair Crooke|work=The Guardian |accessdate=24 April 2010 | location=London | date=19 May 2008| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20100526182257/http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/alastaircrooke| archivedate= 26 May 2010 | url-status= live}} Previously he was a ranking figure in both British intelligence (MI6) and European Union diplomacy.{{cite book|chapter=Crooke, Alastair Warren, (born 30 June 1949), Founder, 2004, and Director, since 2005, Conflicts Forum|chapter-url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-4000524|access-date=2021-05-23|year=2007|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u4000524|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4 |title=Who's Who }}
Early life and education
Crooke was born in Ireland, to Frederick Montague Warren and Shona Ann Thomson. His elder brother was Ian W T Crooke who became an SAS officer, eventually commanding 23 Special Air Service Regiment.{{cite news |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/honoured-mi6-officer-cut-teeth-in-ulster/28044453.html |title=Honoured MI6 officer cut teeth in Ulster |last=McQueen |first=Alastair |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph |date=11 January 2004 |access-date=9 May 2023}}{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/07/03/lt-col-ian-crooke-sas-officer-who-rescued-hostages-gambia-served/ |title=Lt-Col Ian Crooke, SAS officer who rescued hostages in Gambia and served in the Falklands war – obituary |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url-access=limited |date=3 July 2022 |access-date=8 May 2023}} Crooke was brought up mostly in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/world/middleeast/02crooke.html |title=Ex-Spy Sits Down With Islamists and the West |first=Robert F. |last=Worth |newspaper=New York Times |url-access=subscription |date=1 May 2009 |access-date=2 May 2023}} He was educated at Aiglon College in Switzerland{{cite book |last1=Grey |first1=Stephen |title=The New Spymasters: Inside Espionage from the Cold War to Global Terror |date=2015 |publisher=Viking |location=New York |isbn=978-0670917402 |page=223}} and at the University of St. Andrews (1968–1972) in Scotland, from which he obtained an MA in Politics and Economics.
Career
Crooke started his career in London banking for a few years.
Crooke later worked for nearly 30 years in the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6){{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/lets-talk-ex-mi6-man-plans-terror-summit-vw0zwcqm0t6 |title=Let's talk: ex MI6 man plans terror summit |last=Grey |first=Stephen |newspaper=The Sunday Times |location=London |url-access=subscription |date=12 December 2004 |access-date=2 May 2023}} under diplomatic cover in Northern Ireland, South Africa, Colombia, Pakistan and the Middle East. His early work included helping provide weapons to jihadists fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan and assisting in the Northern Ireland peace process.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8287067/Palestinian-Authority-tells-Britain-it-wants-to-question-former-MI6-officer.html |title=Palestinian Authority tells Britain it wants to question former MI6 officer |last=Blomfield |first=Adrian |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url-access=limited |date=27 January 2011 |access-date=2 May 2023}}
In 1997, he became a security adviser to the EU special envoy to the Middle East, and operating out of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv was involved in British attempts to draw Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian groups into the political process. He was involved in negotiations to end the Israeli army's siege of Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. He assisted the negotiation of several local truces between the Israelis and Palestinians during the early 2000s. Crooke had good contacts with the Israeli military and intelligence services.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/sep/24/israel |title=UK recalls MI6 link to Palestinian militants |last=McGreal |first=Chris |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 September 2003 |access-date=2 May 2023}}
He was a member of the Mitchell Committee into the causes of the Second Intifada in 2000.{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalnpq.org/articles/global/368/06-02-2009/alastair_crooke|title=The Essence of Islamist Resistance: A Different View of Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas|last=Crooke|first=Alastair|date=6 February 2009|publisher=New Perspectives Quarterly|accessdate=24 April 2010}}{{cite web |url=https://www.newamerica.org/fellows/events/talking-with-the-enemy/ |title=Talking With the Enemy |website=New America Foundation |year=2006 |access-date=2 May 2023}}
In 2001, British ambassador to Israel Francis Cornish described him as "a person who worked with the security apparatuses of both sides. He went into action after they stopped trusting each other and developed a special skill to persuade them of the logic of things and to bridge the lack of confidence between them." He had a central role in establishing a Hamas ceasefire in 2002.
His MI6 background was exposed by an Israeli newspaper in 2002.
In September 2003, he was instructed to leave the Middle East, against his wishes, because of "personal security reasons" with a British embassy spokesman saying "We do think he's done a really difficult job in difficult conditions and has been outstanding at doing it."
In the 2004 New Year Honours list, he was awarded the CMG for services to the advancement of the Middle East peace process.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3357837.stm |title=Diplomatic service and overseas list |work=BBC News |date=31 December 2003 |access-date=27 August 2024}}
Later life
His 2009 book Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution provides background on what he calls the "Islamist Revolution" in the Middle East, helping to offer strategic insights into the origins and logic of Islamist groups which have adopted military resistance as a tactic, including Hamas and Hezbollah.{{cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183h09x |title=Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution |website=JSTOR |doi=10.2307/j.ctt183h09x |jstor=j.ctt183h09x |access-date=27 August 2024 |last1=Crooke |first1=Alastair |date=2009 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-2885-0 }}
Since 2018, he has written frequently for the Russian think tank Strategic Culture Foundation,{{cite web |url=https://strategic-culture.su/contributors/alastair-crooke/#articles |title=Alastair Crooke |website=Strategic Culture Foundation |access-date=15 October 2024}} and since 2023 for the U.S. based Eurasia Review.{{cite web |url=https://www.eurasiareview.com/author/alastair-crooke/ |title=Author: Alastair Crooke |website=Eurasia Review |issn=2330-717X |publisher=Buzz Future |location=Albany, OR |access-date=16 October 2024}} He is a frequent guest in Andrew Napolitano's show "Judging Freedom".
Private life
Crooke married in 1976; they had three sons, and later divorced. Since 2005, he has lived in Beirut with his partner; they had a son and a daughter and married in 2012.
References
{{reflist}}
- {{cite web|title=The Spy Who Loved Hamas. And Hezbollah. And Iran|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/spy-who-loved-hamas-and-hezbollah-and-iran|author=David Samuels|work=Mother Jones|date=23 September 2009|accessdate=16 November 2009| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20091130131150/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/spy-who-loved-hamas-and-hezbollah-and-iran| archivedate= 30 November 2009 | url-status= live|author-link=David Samuels (political scientist)}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crooke, Alastair}}
Category:European Union diplomats
Category:People of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Category:British foreign policy writers
Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Category:Writers on the Middle East
Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews