Road map for peace


The roadmap for peace or road map for peace was a plan to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict proposed by the Quartet on the Middle East. The principles of the plan, originally drafted by U.S. Foreign Service Officer Donald Blome, were first outlined by U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech on 24 June 2002, in which he called for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace. A draft version from the Bush administration was published as early as 14 November 2002. The final text was released on 30 April 2003. The process reached a deadlock early in phase I and the plan was never implemented.

Background

In March 2002, in response to a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks as part of the Second Intifada that culminated in the "Passover massacre", Israel launched a major military operation in the West Bank, dubbed Operation Defensive Shield. Virtually the entire Palestinian public administration was destroyed by the Israeli army. Israel re-established its full exclusive military control over the West Bank, including Areas A and B, which were intended to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority within the framework of the Oslo II Accord. The army largely destroyed Arafat's Compound in Ramallah, containing the main offices of the PA, and placed President Yasser Arafat under siege.
The United States, European Union, United Nations, and Russia formed the Quartet on the Middle East and tried to save the peace process with a new plan, against the backdrop of the U.S. war on terror, which dominated international politics at the time.

Development of the plan

The Roadmap was based on a speech given by U.S. President George W. Bush on 24 June 2002. An EU-composed first draft, proposed in September 2002, was put aside in favour of a later-U.S.-draft. The draft version from the Bush administration was published as early as 14 November 2002. The EU pushed the Quartet to present the final text on 20 December 2002, but failed, due to Israeli opposition. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged support for the Roadmap, provided the Palestinian state was restricted to 42% of the West Bank and 70% of the Gaza strip; and under full Israeli control. Israel ruled out the division of Jerusalem and the Palestinian right of return and requested more than 100 changes to the Roadmap. Only after Prime Minister Sharon's re-election, the nomination of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian prime minister, and the installation of a new Palestinian government was the plan finally published on 30 April 2003, the day the invasion phase of the Iraq War ended. In a statement, President Bush made clear that the plan was developed by the United States, not by the Quartet.

The plan

Described as a "performance-based and goal-driven roadmap", the Roadmap was built on goals without going into details. It may be summarized as:
  • End the violence;
  • Halt settlement activity;
  • Reform Palestinian institutions;
  • Accept Israel's right to exist;
  • Establish a viable, sovereign Palestinian state;
  • and reach a final settlement on all issues by 2005.
However, as a performance-based plan, progress would require and depend upon the good faith efforts of the parties, and their compliance with each of the obligations the Quartet put into the plan. This made the Roadmap different from former peace plans; there was no time-scheme to reach the goal, a Palestinian state.
The Roadmap was composed of three phases:
I. Satisfying the preconditions for a Palestinian state;
II. Creating an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders;
III. Negotiations on a permanent status agreement, recognition of a Palestinian state with permanent borders and end of conflict.

  • Phase I : Mutual recognition; an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere; Palestinian political-institutional reform; Palestinian elections; Israeli withdrawal to the positions of 28 September 2000. Israel refrains from deportations, attacks on civilians, demolitions and destructions, and other measures; reopens Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem; improves the humanitarian situation, fully implements the Bertini report, eases movement; freezes settlement expansion and dismantles settlement outposts built since 2001.
  • Phase II : An international summit to support Palestinian economic recovery and launch a process leading to establishment of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders; revival of multilateral engagement on issues including regional water resources, environment, economic development, refugees, and arms control issues; Arab states restore pre-intifada links to Israel.
  • Phase III : A second international conference; permanent status agreement and end of conflict; agreement on final borders, clarification of the highly controversial question of the fate of Jerusalem, refugees and settlements; Arab states to agree to peace deals with Israel.
Note: A provisional state in Phase II would thus include all existing settlements and exclude East Jerusalem. Although the plan was presented with considerable delay, the original timetable was not adapted.

Israel's response and conditions

While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the Roadmap, right-wing ministers in the Israeli government opposed it. On 12 May 2003, it was reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had stated that a settlement freeze, a main Road Map commitment, would be "impossible" due to the need to build new houses for settlers who start families. Prime Minister Sharon asked then-US Secretary of State, Colin Powell "What do you want, for a pregnant woman to have an abortion just because she is a settler?" Sharon could only accept the plan with "some artful language", thus the Government accepted "the steps set out in the Roadmap", rather than the Roadmap itself.
On 25 May 2003, the Prime Minister's Cabinet approved the Roadmap with 14 reservations. These included:
  2. * The Palestinians will dismantle the security organizations and reform their structures;
  3. * The Palestinians must cease violence and incitement and educate for peace;
  4. * The Palestinians must complete the dismantling of Hamas and other militant groups and their infrastructure, and collect and destroy all illegal weapons;
  5. * No progress to Phase II before all above-mentioned conditions are fulfilled;
  6. * Israel is not obliged to cease violence and incitement against the other party, pursuant to the Roadmap.
  7. No progress to the next phase before complete cessation of terror, violence and incitement. No timelines for carrying out the Roadmap.
  8. Replacement and reform of the current leadership in the Palestinian Authority. Otherwise no progress to Phase II.
  9. The process will be monitored by the United States.
  10. The character of the provisional Palestinian state will be determined through negotiations. The provisional state will be demilitarized, with provisional borders and "certain aspects of sovereignty", and subjected to Israeli control of the entry and exit of all persons and cargo, plus its airspace and electromagnetic spectrum.
  11. Declaration of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, as well as the waiver of any right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel.
  12. Prior to the final settlement talks in Phase III, no discussions about settlements, Jerusalem and borders would be allowed. Topics would be limited to a settlement freeze and illegal outposts.
  13. No references other than the key provisions of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. No reference to other peace initiatives.
  14. Withdrawal to the September 2000 lines will be conditional.
  15. Israel is not bound to the Bertini Report with respect to improving Palestinian humanitarian issues.

    Validity of the reservations

The Roadmap was offered for acceptance "as it is", without room for adaptations. The Government statement of 25 May 2003, however, made clear that Israel regarded its reservations part of the Roadmap:
The Government of Israel affirms the Prime Minister's announcement, and resolves that all of Israel's comments, as addressed in the Administration's statement, will be implemented in full during the implementation phase of the Roadmap.

Furthermore, the Government definitively ruled out the right of return:
The Government of Israel further clarifies that, both during and subsequent to the political process, the resolution of the issue of the refugees will not include their entry into or settlement within the State of Israel.

A U.S. official, however, said that U.S. commitment did not mean that all of Israel's demands would be met. Abbas called the Israeli reservations to the map ''"not part of the map and... not relevant to its implementation, and... not acceptable to the Palestinians."''

Start and deadlock

Restructuring the Palestinian government

The first step on the Roadmap was the appointment of the first-ever Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The United States and Israel demanded that Arafat be neutralized or sidelined in the Roadmap process, claiming that he had not done enough to stop Palestinian attacks against Israelis while in charge. The United States refused to release the Roadmap until a Palestinian prime minister was in place. Abbas was appointed on 19 March 2003, clearing the way for the release of the Roadmap's details on 30 April 2003.

Hostilities after publication

The publication of the Roadmap did not stop the violence of the Second Intifada. Hamas rejected it, saying that "Abu Mazen is betraying the Palestinian people's struggle and jihad in order to appease the USA and to avoid angering Israel". From 1 to 17 May 2003, 43 Palestinian civilians were killed, including 19 who were engaged in hostilities or were targeted by Israel., as well as four Israeli civilians. After a suicide attack on 18 May, which killed 6 Israelis, the army carried out 35 punitive demolitions of Palestinian homes.
On 27 May 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that the "occupation" of Palestinian territories was "a terrible thing for Israel and for the Palestinians" and "can't continue endlessly." Sharon's phraseology prompted shock from many in Israel, leading to a clarification that by "occupation," Sharon meant control of millions of Palestinian lives rather than actual physical occupation of land.
The Route 60 ambush took place on 20 June, as Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Jerusalem engaging in peace negotiations.