How do you get a stalled peace process back on track in the world’s most complicated and fragile region? Well, I’ll be honest, I have no idea (you thought I did?). But maybe, trying to think positively, what you do is you put the bad guys in charge.
You elect the least democratic and most belligerent party in the political landscape and, maybe, under threat of international isolation and withdrawal of vital funds, they set aside the AK47s and the suicides and the toxic rhetoric and, maybe, they morph into statesmen and peacemakers before your eyes…
I told you I had no idea but is there a small chance that the simple fact of being in power in a fledgling democracy might influence Hamas in the direction of an accommodation with Israel?
Stuart Hughes, BBC producer (who came pretty close to getting killed in Northern Iraq during the war), is doing a fascinating (and slick) podcast from the region.