Authors of Middle East road-map prepare for hard sell

Widespread scepticism greeted the "road-map" that was handed to Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday after the swearing in of the Palestinian government, headed by Mahmoud Abbas.

For a document that had been so long in gestation and so loudly trumpeted in advance, its publication was low key in Washington, London, Brussels and Moscow, the capitals which worked on its formulation.

Speaking in Madrid yesterday, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, warned against allowing the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv "to immediately contaminate the road-map". He said it was premature to talk of another Middle East peace conference and urged Israel and the Palestinian Authority to begin talks on the plan before bringing President George Bush into the process. That view was echoed by the head of European Union foreign policy, Javier Solana, in Brussels, who said he would go to the Middle East next week to muster support. He said: "We've had so many ... documents that have never been implemented. But this time, it is tough to find better backing.

"We bring what is the dream of everybody. Two states coming together in a neighbourhood in which they both are recognised."

The Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, said sidelining Yasser Arafat could threaten the plan's implementation. The US and Israel have openly said they have lost faith in Mr Arafat's ability to deliver on his promises.Mr Mubarak said anyone wanting to thwart the plan would cite the fact that Mr Arafat was not involved. He advised Mr Abbas to establish himself domestically and win the confidence of his people before going to Washington.

The response from Syria was yet more negative. The state-run newspaper Tishrin said: "The issue is not a road, nor is it a map, so long as Israel is still persisting in its stubbornness and refusal to return Arab rights and withdraw from occupied territories."

The most positive note came from Jordan. Speaking at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London yesterday, the Foreign Minister, Marwan Muasher, said it was not certain that it would succeed, but three features distinguished it from previous, failed plans. The first was the adoption of Arab initiatives as its basis, along with all the previous UN resolutions, from 242 onwards. Second was a three-year timetable, the first occasion a timetable had been set and endorsed by the United States. And third, there was a monitoring mechanism to prevent delaying tactics. He said Mr Bush had to be kept to his promise to apply the same "vigour" to the Middle East as he applied to the war in Iraq.

He said Israel stood to benefit in three ways. It was promised a collective peace treaty with all 22 Arab states; an "agreed" solution to the Palestinian refugee problem – a form of words which meant the Arab countries had abandoned their support of the Palestinians' "right of return" – and a permanent end to the conflict. But he stressed that, if the "road-map" was to have any chance of succeeding, Israel would have to end curfews in the occupied territory, stop demolishing Palestinian homes, end so-called "targeted killings", release political prisoners and end all settlement activity.