Blair wrote in his book Tony Blair: A Journey, which was published on Tuesday: "A peace roadmap was near to completion at the end of the Clinton era, but ended in total despair following the intifada of 2000.

"There then followed a terrible passage of events, involving Palestinian terrorist attacks followed by Israeli retaliation.

"The result was the vastly increased weight of the Israeli occupation."

And Blair, the current official envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, also reveals that his support for Israel after it retaliated against continual rocket attacks from Hezbollah in the 2006 Lebanon War, lost him the support of colleagues.

He wrote: "Whereas at the start of the conflict there was a common belief Hezbollah had it coming, and if Israel took them out so much the better - once Israel used force to try and deter further attacks, suddenly Israel, with its modern and advanced army, is seen as aggressor."

Blair claims that the only hope for peace lies in creating a Palestinian state which "has strong institutions and a robust economy".

He is also adamant that a peace treaty could be achieved within a year "if the Palestinians gave up violence".

He wrote: "Not enough voices in the Muslim world were urging them to."

Blair also states that he does not believe there will be a peace agreement between Israeli and Palestinians based simply on a standard political negotiation.

He writes: "Don't misunderstand me - such a negotiation is necessary; but the real problem is a 'reality' problem, not one resolvable merely by negotiation.

"Only when and if the Israelis are sure that a Palestinian state will be securely and properly governed will they agree to it, whatever its borders."

Blair also comments on former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Calling him an "extraordinary man," he comments: "He would drive you mad at meetings, just sitting there telling you about terrorism as if we in Britain had never heard of it; lecturing, hectoring; and above all, even when you agreed with him, continuing to talk as if you had just contradicted him.

"But at the same time as being utterly maddening, he was a real leader. A big man in every sense.

"Really tough, uncompromising and if he didn't want to be moved, unmoveable.

"He made it as hard as possible to support his disengagement policy in Gaza."