Earlier this year David Trimble from the comfort of his ermine robes issued a warning that the Irish peace talks could not be stretched to suit every situation. His central point is almost certainly true, and Trimble, as not only part of the solution in the Good Friday Agreement but part of the problem over very many years, is well qualified to pontificate about it. However, the parallels with the 'peace talks' in the Middle East due to take place in Annapolis should not be overlooked.

For years the British Government's preferred solution to the problems in the North of Ireland seemed to centre around getting the voice of 'moderate' Roman Catholic/Nationalist leaders around the table with 'moderate' Protestant/Unionist leaders. Not surprisingly, it didn't work. I say not surprisingly because the combatants in the war in the North (if you exclude the British Army), together with substantial minorities of the population in the respective communities (the water in which the 'fish' were swimming) didn't trust each other, and they trusted those leaders even less in many cases.

It wasn't until the Government finally realised the fallacy of this strategy, and decided that organisations such as the IRA, UDA UVF had to be included in any talks for a settlement that John Major and then Tony Blair began to make progress.

As Shirley Williams wrote in a Letter to The Guardian last week, Gaza must be a priority, and whatever reservations there may be about Hamas should be put aside to end the pending humanitarian disaster that looms over the people of the territory. Then, for Middle East peace talks to have any legitimacy, Hamas must be brought into the equation. Without dealing with Hamas, without dealing with the plight of the Palestinian refugees, without resolving the crisis in Gaza, the situation will get worse, not better, irrespective of the fine words spoken in Annapolis .

Trimble, as so many do, hid behind the banner of not talking to 'terrorists', or at least, not without strict preconditions. Of course, the terrorists he has in mind are Hamas, and the preconditions are on Hamas, not the Israelis because he knows that with similarly harsh preconditions the Israelis wouldn't turn up in Annapolis.

As Sir Peter Ustinov once said in a television interview, 'Terrorism is the poor man's war and war is the rich man's terrorism'.