A week ago, Israeli and Palestinian leaders met President Bush in Aqaba, Jordan, and committed to a three-stage "road map" to peace and Palestinian statehood by 2005. On Tuesday, a week of threats and violence culminated in a botched attempt by Israel to kill Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
Some questions and answers about how the parties' actions conform to their road map obligations:
Q: What have the sides done to comply with the road map?
A: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) issued a declaration at Aqaba accepting the principle of a Palestinian state. On Monday and Tuesday, Israel dismantled 10 uninhabited settlement outposts in the West Bank. Under the road map, Israel has to remove dozens of outposts established since Sharon took office in March 2001.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas denounced terror against all Israelis and said the "armed intefadeh" must end. He also called for an end to anti-Israel incitement among Palestinians and has tried to persuade Hamas and other militant groups to end the attacks.
Q: Did Israel violate the road map in targeting Rantisi?
A: The road map calls on Israel to take "no actions undermining trust, including deportations, attacks on civilians, confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property," and other actions. However, there is no direct ban on targeted killings of militants.
Q: Was Hamas in violation of the road map?
A: While Hamas is not a party to the road map, its recent actions — including Sunday's attack by a Hamas gunman and two others that killed four soldiers at an Israeli army outpost in Gaza — violated the road map's call for "an unconditional cessation of violence." On Friday, Hamas cut off talks with the Palestinian Authority on a truce with Israel, although some officials said it remained under consideration.
Q: Was the Palestinian Authority in violation of the road map?
A: The road map calls for "sustained, targeted and effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and the dismantling of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure" as well as "commencing confiscation of illegal weapons" — which would apply to weapons held by Hamas and other militant groups.
The Palestinian Authority says it is not ready to take on security responsibility in all its territory — and that in any case the truce and disarming would come by persuasion and not forceful coercion. Israel rejects this and demands "100 percent effort" to block militants' attacks.
FALLUJAH, Iraq - A young man said he just happened by a store that hundreds of people were looting. A middle-aged man said he'd never seen an assault rifle police found in his car. And an old man argued grenades were a more efficient way of fishing.
In a sweltering courthouse Tuesday, an Iraqi judge held the first criminal hearings in Fallujah since the war began when U.S. military police brought him three suspects.
All three men pleaded innocent.
Judge Jamal Khleif Rejab listened carefully to their statements, scrutinized the police reports and decided there should be trials. He ordered U.S. Army attorneys to arrange for the arresting officers to appear with the suspects within 10 days.