More Bowen

On my old blog I revealed a memo written by the BBC's Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen. It was exactly what one might expect. The "fragmentation" of Palestinian society has, in Mr Bowen's view, nothing to do with the Palestinians and everything to do with Israel ("the death of hope, caused by a cocktail of Israel's military activities, land expropriation and settlement building - and the financial sanctions imposed on the Hamas led government"). Indeed, Israel is to blame for almost everything. The Palestinians are not responsible for anything; Israel is the culpable party. And he has contempt for every Israeli politician he mentions; Ehud Barak, for instance, is described as having killed "various Palestinians", written as if he did so for the sake of it.

So one should not be surprised that he's at it again:

BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says Mr Blair will have a tough task ahead of him. Israelis like Mr Blair because they believe he is on their side and Palestinians in the main do not trust him for the same reason, our correspondent adds.