After eight years, the penny has finally dropped with Tony Blair that he was a dismal failure when it came to seeking a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis as the Middle East envoy representing the so-call Quartet of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.

How did he last so long in the position where the only apparent beneficiary of his efforts seems to be his bank account?

Let us not forget that Blair, when he was the United Kingdom’s prime minister, disastrously followed the US into Iraq with no endgame in sight. That there was no endgame then — and we are still living with the consequences of that invasion today — has left Blair with blood on his hands.

That he kept quiet when seven years, under his watch as “peace” envoy, Israel unleashed its military might and its US-backed killing machine on the entrapped people of Gaza, should have condemned him as a man of little consequence. That Israel again unleashed its arsenal against the people of Gaza a second time last year, should have condemned him as a man without moral courage and suffering from spinal atrophy.

That the people of Palestine are not one inch closer to a fair and just peace deal eight years after he took office speaks volumes of the depth of his commitment to the Middle East and the Arab people as a whole.