Why doesn't Israel learn from the mistakes of other nations, including its arch-supporter, the United States, in conducting its policies, which have been directly responsible for the state of malaise in the Middle East.

For a start, all Israel has to do is to closely examine US foreign policy especially the blunders committed during the administration of George W. Bush.

A glaring case has obviously been Iraq where an ill-considered military intervention has wreaked havoc on the country (and the region) and cost Americans dearly in lives, money and prestige, and most probably the chance of electing another Republican president later this year.

Additionally, there are the repeated missteps in the clash over Iran's nuclear ambitions, where all are now waiting for the other American shoe to drop, possibly yielding an international holocaust.

Fidel Castro's recent decision to step down as the president of Cuba reminds us how this arch-enemy of 10 US presidents was able to withstand nearly a half-century of American jabbing and an economic blockade.

These American misadventures were in simple fact a consequence of a repeated failure to seek a negotiated settlement, much like Israel's current bloody problem in Gaza, where an Islamist Palestinian group - Hamas - is in control following the regrettable internecine fighting there last year.

Whatever justification Israel believes it can come up with for this shocking state of affairs, the humanitarian crisis that has engulfed about 1.5 million Palestinians is unpardonable, especially when it coincides with the half-hearted approach to a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, as promised late last year at Annapolis.

Israel's sordid actions against Palestinians are apparently not much different from those of American troops in Iraq, like in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison where American soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners.

"We have become accustomed to treating the Palestinians as inferior people," the Israeli daily Ha'aretz observed on Tuesday in a commentary about an Israeli television programme that exposed mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners, now totalling nearly 10,000.

Used to occupation

"It is doubtful whether a country that has grown used to occupation, and the stories that accompany it will be shocked," it added.

According to an Israeli TV programme Israeli soldiers had "exposed their backsides and sexual organs to Palestinians, pressed an electric heater to the face of a young boy, beat young boys senseless, recorded everything on their mobile phones and sent it to their friends".

It pointed out that "one of the [soldier's] 'mischievous acts' was to test how long a Palestinian who was being choked could survive without breathing. When he passed out, the experiment was stopped."

Remarkably, Ha'aretz concluded: "Something bad is happening to us, they are saying in the Kfir Brigade. That 'something' is the occupation."

Unlike the Europeans whose parliament last week called on Israel to end its economic embargo on Gaza, the Bush administration has maintained a public silence.

But at a recent forum addressed by top US Middle East experts, Ambassador Edward S. Walker, a former assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs, said that "we have to find a way of ensuring that the people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank do not become the victims of a tug of war between Israel and Hamas.

"It can only hurt Abu Mazen's [Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] government and the prospects for stability". He underlined, "We have a big stake in that region. What happens in Gaza and what happens in the West Bank has an impact around the Arab world. We cannot just walk away from it."

Another participant, Robert Malley, a senior White House aide in the Clinton administration, acknowledged that "the current [US] policy is failing" and went to say that "the point is for the United States not to stand in the way if efforts get under way to reach a new deal between Fatah and Hamas".

Malley continued: "The US should step aside and say: 'We are not encouraging a national unity government, but, if you reach it, we will see what you come up with and test you on your actions.'

"That government should be judged on whether it is prepared to adhere to and impose a mutual ceasefire [with Israel], whether it endorses the Arab peace imitative, and whether it provides Abbas with a mandate to negotiate with Israel."

Aaron D. Miller, who also served in the state department, underlined that the influence of the pro-Israel community "has a powerful voice but not a veto over American policy in the Middle East", adding "When presidents lead, particularly on issues pertaining to American national interest, domestic lobbies follow - noisily, sometimes angrily, but they follow."

If so, Israel should stop its meddling and negotiate a truce with Hamas as many prominent Israelis have been advocating. In turn, Abbas and Hamas should negotiate a new partnership under the auspices of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has offered to mediate between them.