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May 23, 2003/Iyar 21 5763, Vol. 55, No. 39
Officials debate future of 'road map'
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - Ariel Sharon's trip to Washington was supposed to have brought some clarity about where the Bush administration and Israel stand on the "road map" to Israeli-Palestinian peace.
But after a string of suicide bombings since May 17 led the Israeli prime minister to postpone his White House visit, lawmakers and other supporters of Israel seem more confused than ever about the status of the plan.
There has been much movement in the halls of Congress and from other interested parties since then, with some calling for President Bush to recall the road map and allow Israel to fight terrorism, and others urging him to push it forward.
The plethora of viewpoints - often similar except for differences of nuance - has had a "numbing effect" on the White House and other policymakers, one Jewish leader said. The Bush administration is likely to find support, and ridicule, no matter which direction it turns.
Some feel the road map has become more of an obstacle to moving forward than a vehicle. The plan was supposed to lay the ground-work for resuming peace talks, but Israelis' and Palestinians' insistence on haggling over the conditions for even starting the plan has placed the Bush administration and Congress in the middle.
White House officials say the president is focused on the plan the United States crafted with its partners in the diplomatic "Quartet" - the European Union, United Nations and Russia - but that he believes the first step should be a Palestinian crackdown on terrorism.
"We're still on the road to peace; it's just going to be a bumpy road," Bush said May 19. He also called on Palestinian leaders to "work with us to fight off terror."
On May 20, the president called the new Palestinian Authority prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and urged him to work to prevent future attacks. Bush also spoke to Sharon on May 20, the day the two were to have met in Washington.
Despite clear signals from the White House that the president is sticking to the road map, letters have been circulating in Washington calling for him to delay the plan until terror subsides. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) argue that it was a mistake to present the road map to the parties before Abbas proved he could fight terrorism and win an internal power struggle with P.A. President Yasser Arafat.
While Bush has an en-ormous amount of goodwill in Congress on Middle East issues, even from Democrats, his insistence on following the road map could hurt that standing, Weiner said.
"The administration is trying to have it both ways," he told JTA. "The president's advisers are trying to distance him from the road map because they sense it is politically and substantively a problem for him."
At the same time, however, the State Department is still pushing for an "even-handed" approach to peacemaking, he said.
The road map has its supporters as well. A group of 40 lawmakers, including three Jewish members, sent a letter to the president on May 20 praising him for presenting the road map to Israel and the Palestinians on April 30.
"This is a clear statement from members across the political spectrum that if you back away from the road map now you don't stop terrorism, you empower terrorism," one Democratic congressional official said. "The implied message is also that Sharon should accept the road map and keep the discussions going."
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