Cloherty and other intrepid VCs say that they are learning from their mistakes, but venture investing in Russia still looks like a trek through Siberia without a map.
Jenin is a rare place in the Arab world where ordinary people have a good word for Tony Blair, whose visits as envoy for the Quartet (the EU, Russia, the UN and the United States) put the city on the map.
In April this year, under international pressure, Mr Arafat appointed the more moderate Mr Abbas as prime minister and, in June, President George Bush got Mr Sharon and Mr Abbas to shake hands on the road map, a peace plan drawn up by America, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, which envisages an independent Palestinian state by 2005.