On 30 December 2008, the Evening Standard published a letter on Gaza by Arab Media Watch adviser Chris Doyle.

To exit the maelstrom created by the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, confidence-building measures are needed far beyond the ingredients in Bernard Wasserstein's rather thin recipe.

First, there are serious questions over the leadership credentials of Tzipi Livni upon whom Wasserstein builds his hopes. Her participation in the current pointless brutality is no more than a bid to outdo Binyamin Netanyahu in a bloody display of machismo before next year's elections. And releasing Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti alone is far from sufficient to restore credibility in negotiations.

President Obama must insist Israel adhere to its road map obligations to end totally all settlement activity and remove unauthorised outposts as well as a significant raft of the checkpoints that cripple Palestinian economic life. Nothing less can restore faith in President Mahmoud Abbas's approach - namely that you can negotiate with the Israelis to end the occupation - something few Palestinians now believe is possible. To back this up, Obama needs to activate the Arab peace initiative as apart of a region-wide solution.

Finally, once and for all the humanitarian fate of 1.5 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza must never again be used as a political weapon, by Israel or Hamas. Aid, food, fuel, electricity, and medicines must never be allowed to be cut off, and an entire population collectively punished for the actions of the few.

Chris Doyle