There are people starving in the siege, there are children traumatized and terrified. There are men women and children dying. This is a situation that has reached the proportions of a tremendous humanitarian crisis. It is a tragedy and every minute that passes we lose lives and more people are brutalized and traumatized.

It's clear Israel has suspended the peace process, despite the so-called moderation of the Arab world, because it has no interest in peace.

It looks like we will have a bi-polar reality.

Women in politics are more honest and forthright. We are not in it for the ego gratification.

The rise of Hamas is a product of the failures of political will in the international community, of the absence of the peace process, of the increase in violence and ideology.

When you have a nation that is suffering collectively from a situation of injustice - of violence, of imprisonment and closure and checkpoints, from a sense of vulnerability and of hopelessness - attitudes are going to be affected by these measures.

We cannot rely upon the silenced to tell us they are suffering.