An utterly bizarre sentence in Clemency Burton-Hill's utterly bizarre post at the Coffee House yesterday: For once, on this bleakest of days, I find it hard not to want to blame the Palestinians themselves.
A group of homicidal maniacs engage in murder, beatings, and other savagery and Ms Burton-Hill finds it hard not to want to blame them. As opposed to blaming who? Mickey Mouse? The Nawab of Pataudi? Keith Harris and Orville? Or...here it comes...ISRAEL.

Here's the rest of her paragraph: The roots of their desperation and grievance may lie in the economic, political and social prison they have been forced into by a combination of Israeli policy and international compliance, but truly, how can this most sickening of internecine wars do anything but damage the legitimacy of their cause?

I don't understand. I have met people in Hamas, people in Fatah, and I know they want peace - with each other, and with Israel. My Palestinian friends and acquaintances are some of the most intelligent, reasonable and hopeful people I know. How is this happening? And what can we do about it? What can anyone do about it?You find it hard not to want to blame the Palestinians. So you don't. Those peace loving folk from Hamas, who want nothing but a quiet life. Let's ignore the irrelevency of their repeated murder of Israelis, let's ignore their expressed desire - indeed, the very purpose of their organisation - to wipe Israel off the map, let's ignore their indoctination of children into suicide bombers. Let's ignore anything they actually say or do, in fact, because clearly the real problem is "Israeli policy and international compliance".

So the terrorists are now doing to each other what they've been to Israelis for years, and the blame lies with Israel. And, oh yes, us: "Maybe, just maybe, if we had not exercised a total embargo on Hamas". We should have welcomed with open arms the election of a terrorist organisation dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the murder of Israelis. Indeed, we should have dug into our pockets to fund them.

Spare me, Ms Burton-Hill, your warped moral universe.