Again, we seem to have lost it in the Middle East! No one is doing anything concrete on the Iraqi brewing civil war, even if it is not fully there yet. No one, not least the Quartet, is doing anything concrete on the Israeli-Palestinian front, where daily carnage is now raging - after Lebanon.

We do not know what the world leaders know, but...hello o!...it cannot be right for blood to be so ceaselessly flowing in that region. It cannot be fair to the women, children and the aged that our leaders cannot stem/stop the tide. Just plain wrong, period.

Internal political and other crises are rocking both Israel and Palestine. No help is discernible from known credible and critical external players! In Iraq, it is all so surely tending towards an internal political and sectarian implosion. The occupying forces, especially the US and UK, are at their wits' end. Both Washington and London are now in their own internal political turmoil over the invasion, and glaring operational failures, with all sorts of cracks in the coalition-armour! So many questions are being asked, even by friends/loyalists of both governments! The military are also speaking up!! Real bad news all round!!!

So, who will step up and lead us forward on these concerns now? When shall it be?

These are really dim times, indeed.

As Fatah and Hamas inch towards creating a unity government in Palestine, we must now urge all "interested" parties to help pile more pressure and encouragement on them. This is clearly a window of positive opportunity which should/must not be blown. We have a very strange way of blowing great chances in this long-running conflict, don't we! Let's make amends this time.

And here we call on the Quartet, Israel, Arab League and the African Union (which has very long standing relations and empathy for the PLO).

Then we must add US Democratic Party leaders, for obvious reasons.

Finally, the media must keep tabs and stay with the story...holding all to account, speaking truth to power. No more, no less.

The key is...PEACE. The love of peace. And the peace of loving peace.