In Case You Were Wondering

The recently-ascended artist formerly known as the Vicar of Downing Street has declared himself shocked by conditions in his new parish. He didn't know about them before. There are no atheists in foxholes, there are no Socialists in New Labour, and there are no Bee Gees in Palestine. Tony can hardly be expected to know things about places where there are no Bee Gees.

Still, Tony has learned a thing or two. "I have learnt the depth of Israel's concern for security, and I have learnt the depth of the Palestinians' distress caused by the occupation," Tony says. That makes two things which Tony has learned. Apparently he didn't know those things before, either. Nevertheless, despite the intimidating steepness of the learning curve, he still "accepts Israel's view that Palestinians should not have a state until it can reasonably guarantee its neighbour's security", much as the independent, sovereign Iraqi government should not have a state unless it can reasonably guarantee the security of Iran, I suppose.

Tony is privately dismissive of "the argument by some Israelis that security comes first, with economics and a political deal well behind it", informing diplomats that "all three have to happen together" and that a "stepping stone" towards full negotiations for a final resolution of the Palestinian problem is "do-able". He "accepts in private that settlement expansion will soon make a Palestinian state unrealisable", while at the same time supposedly believing that Olmert bar Sharon "sees a two-state solution as necessary in Israel's interests". Hamas, as the legitimately elected government of the Palestinian people, will be "totally excluded". Tony does not appear to have professed shock at this fact; but then, perhaps he doesn't know about it yet.