Road map in reverse

The latest upsurge in violence between Israel and Palestine is particularly dismaying, coming so soon after the Aqaba summit seemed to promise a new beginning. Since George Bush headed back to Washington last Thursday, about 50 Israelis and Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded - the great majority of them civilians. The last few days have seen a rapid escalation that may not have peaked yet. For the moment, the road map, on which all hopes of a settlement are pinned, still lies on the table in Aqaba, largely disregarded if not unread. If the two opposing sides continue in this way for very much longer, the map may have to be filed in the already voluminous library of failed Middle East peace plans whose extensive, depressing catalogue dates back to the British mandate.

That dismal prospect produced much clutching at straws yesterday but no real sense that any of the principal parties to the conflict have any new ideas about how to extricate themselves. There was plenty of free advice. Colin Powell and Jack Straw focused on the need to block funding for Hamas. Unfortunately such undertakings have been demanded, and given, in the past without appreciable results. The UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, ritually deplored the violence and urged perseverance. Jordan's King Abdullah, mindful also of intensifying conflict in Iraq, warned the region was "at a critical crossroads". In Washington there was talk of turning Palestine into a protected trusteeship or even deploying a US or Nato intervention force to separate the combatants. Despite all the earnest hand-wringing, such high-risk, costly ventures will have few takers.

Reverting to unattractive type, Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, offered no apology for the misjudged attempt to assassinate a Hamas political leader that led directly to Wednesday's Jerusalem bus bombing and to Israel's ongoing reprisal raids in Gaza. Hopes that Mr Sharon, spurred on by Mr Bush, was finally switching from confrontation to reconciliation now sicken. Suspicions grow, not least among Israelis, that Mr Sharon is deliberately seeking to wreck the road map. Instead of offering encouragement to his moderate Palestinian opposite number, Mahmoud Abbas, Mr Sharon mocked him yesterday as an impotent "chick without feathers" and "cry-baby". It is true that Mr Abbas is presently a figure of some weakness. He undoubtedly needs a lot of help if he is to contain rejectionist violence and persuade Palestinians that Aqaba was not a sell-out. But he does not need the sort of help Mr Sharon's helicopter gunships have been dishing out. He does not need more battles to the "bitter end". He needs a partner for peace, not war.

Riding herd in Washington, Mr Bush also seems to have very little new or constructive to say. Analysts suggest that the very vagueness of the Aqaba pact, and Mr Bush's studied, even proud ignorance of nuance and detail, are now proving to be its undoing. One debate centres on differing interpretations of the word "restraint", in the context of Israel's ability to pre-empt terrorist attack. It is clear that the Bush and Sharon versions do not match. Having promised great things, and invested much presidential prestige in Aqaba, Mr Bush is being reduced to uttering a rather pathetic, running commentary on each latest reverse. It is unlikely that his political advisers will let that go on for much longer. If Mr Sharon is not forced into line soon, Mr Bush may back off, passing the Middle East buck to lowlier officials rather than risk a personal humiliation. That may be the very outcome Mr Sharon is aiming for.