WHICH TELLS YOU WHO WON THE WAR:

Blair says it is time to talk to Hamas (Patrick Sawer, 31 Jan 2009, Daily Telegraph)

His comments came after he held talks with George Mitchell, the new US envoy appointed by Barack Obama to try and bring peace to the region following the punishing Israeli attacks on Gaza which killed an estimated 1,300 Palestinians.

Mr Blair appeared to criticise the previous Bush administration and its Israeli allies for their strategy of focusing all peace efforts on the West Bank.

He said: "It was half of what we needed. Yes, we do need to show through the change we are making on the West Bank that the Palestinian state could be a reality.

"The trouble is that if you simply try to push Gaza to one side then eventually what happens is the situation becomes so serious that it erupts and you deliver into the hands of the mass the power to erupt at any point in time."