Another Labour fool?

Bob Marshall-Andrews is often described as an independent minded Labour MP, his left-wing view are tempered by a sense of humour and I have occasionally been impressed by his grasp of the duplicity of Blair and Brown. However his article in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph included a recommendation of 7 days action that Gordon Brown should take to restore Labour's fortunes. Six were the expected and mostly sensible but one shows the inbuilt prejudices of too many of the left of poliytics in this country:

"Friday: summon the Israeli ambassador who will be told that unless there is an immediate, verifiable programme for dismantling the illegal settlements on the West Bank, Britain will press the UN for a programme of economic sanctions against his country."

Maybe it was a lack of space that prevented Mr Marshall-Andrews from suggesting that the Hamas representatives be summoned and told to stop firing rockets at Israel and demanding the destruction of Israel. Maybe it was the lack of more days in his week long plan that stopped Mr Marshall-Andrews from suggesting that Fatah representatives be told to remove the call for the destruction of Israel from their Charter, from the educational curriculum of their schools and from their television programmes. Maybe, maybe, maybe... or maybe Mr Marshall-Andrews is a blinkered fool on the matter of Israel and the Palestinians.