LONDON, Jan.31: In what appears to be a 180-degree aboutturn in the West’s approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict, former British prime minister Tony Blair, now the Middle East envoy for the Quartet group of the US, UN, Russia and the European Union, has declared that Hamas must somehow be brought into the Middle East peace process because the policy of isolating Gaza in the quest for a settlement will not work.

In an exclusive interview to The Times published on Saturday, Mr Blair, known as the staunchest supporter of president Bush while in 10 Downing Street, implicitly criticised the strategy followed by the Bush administration and Israel of focusing all peace and reconstruction efforts on the West Bank.

“It was half of what we needed,” he said.

Mr Blair said that the strategy of “pushing Gaza aside” and trying to create a Palestinian state on the West Bank “was never going to work and will never work”.

He hinted in references to how peace was eventually achieved in Northern Ireland that the time may be approaching to talk to Hamas ... “My basic predisposition is that in a situation like this you talk to everybody.”

However, he repeated the Quartet’s position that there can be no talks, official or unofficial, with Hamas until they renounce violence and recognise Israel.