Palestinian militant group Hamas, against which the Israeli government has carried out a continuous attempt at regime change through an illegal, six year blockade of essential goods into Gaza, praised Monday’s blast that has injured at least 21, calling it “a natural reaction to Israeli crimes”.

As both sides continue to terrorise one another in what should be an international Holy City that affords free access to all faiths, the bus bombing of yesterday in south Jerusalem confirms Israel as a simmering cauldron of hate in which every resident, Jew and Arab, walks in fear.

The occupation has made hatred endemic through the failed ideology of Likud Zionism, personified by leader Binyamin Netanyahu who continues to treat the UN, the EU and world opinion, with contempt.

It is now probably too late for peace in our lifetime. The deliberate failure to establish an independent state for five million indigenous Palestinians, dispossessed of their land and homes, has ensured that no person in any part of the Israeli state can know whether they will be safe and uninjured by the end of any particular day.

Jerusalem has tragically become the unholy city as a result of a political ideology that has at its core a policy of apartheid denoted by the continuing illegal settlement of Israelis on occupied Palestinian land in violation of international law. However, there is a factor that is potentially even more dangerous ­ that is the undeclared nuclear arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, controlled by the Likud government.

As for Hamas. It is a terrorist organisation in the same category as the former Irgun Zvai Leumi of 1947 ­ the precursor of the present Likud Party of Binyamin Netanyahu:  i.e. freedom fighters who will kill to achieve their political objectives.