Road Map to Oslo

I have been more optimistic than Deacon and the Trunk on the “road map,” agreeing that on paper it looks like Oslo II, but that it needn’t wind up at the same destination if President Bush and the American people remain firm in their support of Israel. This morning we got the first indication that the road map may, indeed, take us back to Oslo, as President Bush condemned Israel for the attempted killing of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi.
Ari Fleischer said Bush is “deeply troubled” by the Israeli strike and fears it “will undermine efforts by Palestinian authorities and others to bring an end to terrorist attacks.” Really? What efforts are those? In yesterday’s press conference, Mahmoud Abbas said that “he will not order a crackdown on the militias under any circumstances because he wants to avoid civil war. ‘There is absolutely no substitute for dialogue,’ Abbas said.”
And how, exactly, are the Israelis to respond to attacks like the one on Sunday, in which five of their soldiers were killed by terrorists who infiltrated an Israeli post wearing stolen IDF uniforms? This does not bode well, to put it very mildly.