April 30, 2003
Developed by the Quartet — the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — the Roadmap for Peace is a “a performance-based roadmap to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Marking an end to the Bush administration’s hands-off policy toward the conflict, President George W. Bush in a June 24, 2002 speech, called on Israelis to withdraw from recent incursions in the West Bank and Gaza and on the Palestinian Authority to stop supporting terrorism. In August 2002, the administration outlined its “Road Map for Peace” policy, supporting a two-state solution. These two developments marked the genesis of this ambitious framework to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The plan emerges during a period of extreme violence between Israel and the Palestinians. The Second Intifada, which began in September 2000 and continues February 2005, kills more than 1,000 Israelis and 4,000 Palestinians. The uprising is marked by suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and retaliatory military incursions into Palestinian territory. The international community rallies around Bush’s initial plans to develop a comprehensive end to the cycle of violence.
The Quartet’s Roadmap for Peace, however, draws significant reservations among Israeli leaders, who outline 14 main concerns. The United States promises to “fully and seriously address” those concerns. The Israeli government notes that no negotiations can ensue unless Palestinian terrorist networks are dissolved, all incitement against Israel ends, and a new Palestinian leadership emerges. Any security force sent to monitor unfolding negotiations would require American participation.
While the Palestinian Authority pledges to support the Roadmap, Hamas rejects it outright. Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin proclaims, “The Roadmap aims to assure security for Israel at the expense of the security of our people. It is a plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause. We reject it.”
At the Sharm el-Sheikh summit of 2005 and the Annapolis Conference of 2007, Israeli and Palestinian leaders confirm their commitment to the Roadmap, but, despite numerous attempts to execute the framework, the Quartet can never implement the plan.
