Peace remains out of reach

By David Chazan BBC correspondent in Jerusalem

No one ever expected an immediate breakthrough from the meeting between Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen.

It is as if the two sides are speaking different languages.

Ariel Sharon wants assurances on security

Mr Sharon wanted to restrict the discussion to what he sees as the first requirement before there can be any progress towards peace.

This is the Israeli demand for the new Palestinian leadership to come down hard on the militants who are continuing their campaign of suicide bombings.

On the Palestinian side, Abu Mazen went into the talks with one key objective. He wants the Israeli government to accept the peace plan unconditionally.

Only that, he argues, will give him enough leverage with the militants and their supporters in the squalid refugee camps of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to secure at least a reduction in the violence.

Stalemate

But the Israelis counter that, if they agree to go ahead with the first steps required under the road map, they would only be exposing themselves to still greater risks.

The plan calls on them to ease restrictions on Palestinian movements.

But they say the militants would only use their greater freedom of travel to step up attacks.

So the situation appears frozen.

And there is another more fundamental dispute too on which the entire future of the peace process depends.

Seven died in Sunday's suicide attack

Mr Sharon says he will not put a stop to the continuing expansion of settlements in Palestinian territory, despite being urged to do so by the American Secretary of State Coilin Powell during his visit here last weekend.

And Israel is spending millions of dollars on building a barrier to keep the Palestinians at bay.

In some places, walls or fences encroach into Palestinian land, keeping many people from their livelihoods and increasing the economic pressure on an already desperate people.

Israel too is suffering a lot of economic pain.

Tourism has fallen to a trickle of visitors since the latest Palestinian intifada - or uprising - began two-and-a-half years ago. And Israel's once fast-growing economy is now shrinking alarmingly.

Outside pressure

A recent survey said that, within the next year or two, one in three Israeli children may be living in poverty.

There is battle fatigue on both sides but there is also a diplomatic impasse and progress now seems more remote than ever, despite the American-backed peace plan.

US pressure on both sides is vital if the plan is not to collapse like so many before it.

But few Israelis or Palestinians believe that President Bush is going to keep up the momentum when he's coming up for re-election next year.

In the longer term, there are two essential questions: does Israel want peace more than it wants land, and will the Palestinians agree to make peace in return for a state in the West Bank and Gaza which some say would not be viable.