ISRAEL

the Nation: Road Map or Road Kill?

Apparently having learned nothing from the collapse of earlier efforts, the mainly American drafters of the road map included several features that almost guarantee its failure. One is the absence of a fixed timetable. Thus either party (in practice the Israelis, if the past is any indication) can hold up movement from stage to stage and within each stage. Another feature is the addition of interim phases to a process that is already prolonged. This means, in effect, the postponement of the most difficult aspect of the resolution of the conflict--the negotiation of issues like settlements, sovereignty, Jerusalem and refugees--until a third phase, which, if past practice is any guide, means indefinitely.