Israeli challenge to US roadmap

By Roger Hardy BBC regional analyst

After the spectacle and symbolism of last week's summits in Egypt and Jordan, the attack against Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi marks a brutal return to the cycle of Arab-Israeli violence.

The attack marks a brutal return to the cycle of Arab-Israeli violence

The summits, attended by President Bush, formally launched the latest Middle East peace plan - known as the roadmap - and were designed to give new hope to the people of the region.

The roadmap - worked out by the diplomatic "quartet" of the US, the UN, Russia and the European Union - proposes a sequence of steps leading to the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.

But Tuesday's violence is a stark reminder of the magnitude of the task ahead.

Israeli officials are defending the attack on Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi. They insist he is one of Hamas's top planners, not just one of its best-known spokesmen.

In particular, they allege he was responsible for Sunday's attack on the border of Israel and Gaza which left four Israeli soldiers dead.

It is Hamas, they say, not Israel, which is a threat to the roadmap.

Bad timing

But for the White House, the issue is not whether Israel has the right to defend itself - or even whether it should continue with what it calls "targeted killings", and others call assassinations.

Washington has long turned a blind eye to this controversial Israeli policy.

In pictures: Attack on Rantissi

Rantissi: Public face of Hamas

For President Bush what is at issue is the timing of this latest attack, which he regards as both damaging and inexplicable.

Mr Bush thought he had received assurances from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at last week's summit that Israel would do nothing to jeopardise the launching of the roadmap.

The agreed aim was to begin with confidence-building measures.

Israel would start to dismantle settlements built since Mr Sharon came to office in 2001.

And the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, would try to persuade Hamas and other militant groups to accept a ceasefire.

A few settler outposts have indeed been removed.

But Mr Abbas' task - never easy - has now been made considerably harder, as Hamas vows to avenge the attack against Mr Rantissi.

Dented credibility

Moreover, from Mr Bush's point of view, the attack has dented his own credibility.

His decision to intervene personally in Middle East peacemaking was always going to be a gamble.

Ever since entering the White House, he had seen the region as trouble and kept it at arm's length.

Now the dangers of intervening are all too apparent.

The latest violence forces the American president to do more than fight for the peace plan. He must fight to save face.