The Long and Winding Road, Pt. 2

The Ny Times is reporting that both the abysmally named Palestinian Authority and Ariel Sharon are both in favor of pursuing the Bush road map to peace in the Middle East.

One of the things that has perplexed me in the past few weeks were all the calls that the so-called ‘road map’ has all but been scrapped because of the recent terrorism. This seems to me to be a silly way to view the peace plan, which has a series of steps that should be acted upon when certain conditions are met. The very first of those is:

In Phase I. the Palestinians immediately undertake an unconditional cessation of violence according to the steps outlined below; such action should be accompanied by supportive measures undertaken by Israel. Palestinians and Israelis resume security cooperation based on the Tenet work plan to end violence, terrorism, and incitement through restructured and effective Palestinian security services.

If these conditions are not met, and an argument could be made that recent events have certainly showed that they may not have been, this does not mean you throw the entire plan out. Instead, it would seem, you shelve the plan until those conditions have been met, and then you proceed forward. Let me try an example:

A college student wants to become a doctor, and one of the preconditions is to take a microbiology course. The student fails the course- should he/she simply scrap the plan to become a doctor? Most of us would simply put that plan on hold, and then take the microbiology course again. Once that condition has met, then we would move forward with the rest of the plan.

Another problem with this sniping about what many view as the stillborn plan is the bizarre perception that plans always proceed according to, well, planning. They don’t. This won’t. I think it is safe to say that reports of the road map’s demise may have been premature.