LONDON: I know the attractive Israeli seaside resort of Netanya well, having stayed several times at my niece’s flat there. Not long ago I heard on BBC radio a series of interviews with residents of Netanya, which has in the past suffered a number of terrorist attacks. They rejoiced at how much easier the situation had become following the building of the Israeli separation wall, designed specifically to protect places like Netanya, located at the narrow neck of Israel’s pre-1967 border. Two days ago five people were killed in a suicide bombing in Netanya.

All terrorist attacks are unjustifiable atrocities. Five Israelis are the latest victims. Over the past months, 15 Palestinians, two of them children, have been killed by Israeli troops. Their deaths attracted no headlines, but they are dead just the same.

I recently returned from leading the first British parliamentary delegation to the Palestinian Authority. What we saw is never seen by ordinary, decent Israelis, like the citizens of Netanya — who, since they dare not venture into the occupied territories, have no idea of the persecution of Palestinians being carried out in their name.

Last there two years ago, I was appalled at how an already unacceptable situation has deteriorated. There are now more than 600 fixed checkpoints in the tiny Palestinian area, which, with so-called flying checkpoints, make free movement almost impossible.

One of the motivations of this policy is to make the lives of the Palestinians so intolerable that they get out. The success of this ethnic cleansing is shown in Ramallah, which in the two years since I was last there has become bloated as Palestinians from other areas of the West Bank huddle together there.

Sharon’s champions argue that Israeli troops’ withdrawal from Gaza demonstrates his peacemaking motivation.

Yet, as Brent Scowcroft, the first President Bush’s national security adviser, has explained to Condoleezza Rice: “For Sharon this is not the first move, this is the last move. He’s getting out of Gaza because he can’t sustain 8,000 settlers with half his army protecting them. Then, when he’s out, he will have an Israel that he can control and a Palestinian state atomised enough that it can’t be a problem.”

It is good for Labour to be free of the albatross of Peres, following the welcome election of Amir Peretz who wants a negotiated two-state solution.

Instead of lauding Sharon as he expands illegal West Bank settlements, the British government should be giving full support to Peretz.

He may not be perfect but, if at this bleak hour there is any hope for Israelis and Palestinians alike, he is it. —Dawn/ The Guardian News Service