agreement worked out by a group of Israeli and Palestinian personalities, and the signing ceremony turned into an international event. These initiatives created a consensus about a solution based on the principle of "Two States forTwo Peoples". They did not bear fruit in practice because of the opposition of the Israeli government.
82 In May 2003, the Sharon government was compelled to accept - though only for show - the Road Map imposed by President GeorgeW. Bush on behalf of the "Quartet" consisting of the USA, the European Union, Russia and the UN.The attacks by suicide pilots in the US on September I 1,2001, the American invasion of Afghanistan and then of Iraq increased American sensitivity to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but did not weaken the pro-Israel lobby in the US.
83 The Road Map of 2003 is afflicted with the same basic fault as the Oslo Declaration of Principles of 1993. Although, unlike Oslo, it does define an aim ("Two States for Two Peoples"), it left the delineation of the borders of the Palestinian state to later stages. Sharon and his colleagues were ready to confer the designation of "Palestinian state" on the Palestinian enclaves that they wanted to set up in I 1% of the country. They attached to the acceptance of the Road Map 14 conditions that turned it into a dead letter.
84 The experience of the Road Map, like the experience of the Oslo declaration before, confirms conclusively that a document that sets out interim stages is valueless, unless it clearly spells out from the outset the details of the final peace agreement. In the absence of such a definition, there is no possibility at all that the interim stages will be realized.When each side is striving for a different final aim, the confrontation is bound to flare up at every interim stage.
85 Well knowing that there is no chance at all for the actual realization of the Road Map, Sharon announced at the end of 2003 his plan for "Unilateral Steps". This was a code-name for the annexation of about half the West Bank to Israel and the confining of the Palestinians in isolated enclaves, connected only by roads, tunnels and bridges that could be cut at any time. The plan
Photo: Eyal Ofer