This week's Human Rights Watch report on restrictions of freedom of speech in Gaza and the West Bank will not be news to anyone with even a basic knowledge of how Fatah and Hamas behave.

Unfortunately, many of those in Britain and elsewhere who opine and claim to speak on behalf the Palestinians do not have that basic knowledge.

HRW's catalogue of abuse is damning - arrests and torture of Palestinian journalists who seek to cover objectively what is happening, and continued persecution of peaceful activists. It is important that this is detailed in such reports. But experience tells us that it will make little difference.

Hamas's useful idiots will simply ignore reality and carry on with their misguided portrayal of the two organisations. And the Palestinians will continue to be led by men who have betrayed them at every turn.