At the beginning of May, the Bush administration handed Israeli and Palestinian leaders an eight-month timetable setting specific dates—some of which have already passed—for steps both sides must take to push the peace process forward. The timeline demands that Israel remove its security roadblocks from Palestinian areas and allow Palestinian bus and truck convoys to travel unimpeded between Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

The timeline gives dates for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to deploy his forces in an attempt to implement a halt to the terrorist Qassam rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

The US plan demands that Israel approve and support, in an "immediate and ongoing" manner, US requests for weapons, munitions, and equipment for PA forces loyal to Mr. Abbas.

"The eight-month timeline calls for a series of steps that resemble the ‘confidence-building measures’ laid out in the tattered Road Map plan, another US initiative which Israel began to carry out and the PA basically ignored," said Hana Levi Julian of Arutz Sheva.

US diplomats said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was committed to the effort and that she hoped to draw up a blueprint that both sides would agree to, possibly in writing, when she arrives in the Middle East on May 15. The US plan calls for the "benchmarks" to be implemented between May 1 and the end of December.

A senior US official who has been involved in the discussions told Reuters that the benchmarks, which, he said, both sides had, at least in principle, agreed to, were designed to give Israelis and Palestinians "an incentive."

"One side gets security. The other side gets greater freedom of movement," said the official.

Upon receiving the timetable, Israeli officials said many of the benchmarks imposed on the Jewish state would be impossible from a security standpoint. Hamas leaders said they simply would refuse to adhere to the US plan which essentially asks the Palestinians to halt their rocket fire and relinquish terrorism in exchange for easing of restrictions and barriers in PA areas.

"I swear it’s a joke," the Damascus-based Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mishaal told Al Jazeera. "The equation has now become: dismantling the checkpoints in exchange for giving up resistance. This has become the Palestinian cause."

Mr. Mishaal said the Palestinians would "never agree to stop Qassam rockets in exchange for easing barriers."

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, the PA minister of information and formal spokesman for the Hamas government, called the American initiative "very dangerous."

"It does not meet the minimum hopes of the Palestinian people," he said, noting that it "does not include one single word in reference to lifting the economic siege on the Palestinian people."

Ever since Hamas’s election, the PA has faced an economic and diplomatic freeze from the US and most of Europe. To have aid restored, Hamas leaders will have to recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce terrorism, and accept all past signed agreements with Israel.

Thus far, Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, has adamantly refused to comply with any of those requirements, and the freeze, which the Palestinians refer to as "the siege," has continued.

"The US administration asks the Palestinian people to stop resisting the occupation, in exchange for the removal of military checkpoints, which are scattered here and there, and Israel already started gesturing that they will refuse this initiative, in order to create an atmosphere of negotiations over an originally pointless initiative," said Dr. Barghouti.

He also objected to the US proposal’s reference only to Mr. Abbas’s Presidential Guards, rather than the entire PA government, which, of course, means Hamas. This, he said, was a US attempt "to set a crack between the government and the presidency."

Dr. Barghouti said if the Hamas government falls, "there will be no other government having the same Palestinian unanimity." He vowed that Hamas would not seek early elections because that would "neglect the challenge to break the siege imposed on the Palestinian people."

Israeli officials said most troubling from their perspective was Washington’s decision to set specific dates for when Israel would begin allowing Palestinians to travel from Gaza to Judea and Samaria.

"There is no conditionality. Even if the Palestinians don’t complete their obligations, the US will expect us to complete ours," a senior Israeli official explained.

Israelis fear that Hamas will use the proposed convoys to extend the terrorists’ power and weapons from Gaza into Judea and Samaria.

Since Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza in the summer of 2005, Palestinian terrorists have smuggled into that area over 30 tons of illegal, offensive weaponry. It is feared that convoys would permit these weapons to reach terrorist groups in Judea and Samaria, where the security situation has not deteriorated as badly as it has in Gaza.

Israeli officials also raised concerns that the Jewish state was being asked to ease restrictions on Palestinian movements without any assurances that Mr. Abbas has completed his own commitments to security.

"Under the plan, Israel agrees to allow the transfer of weapons to the Palestinians and to unilaterally and unconditionally forfeit Israel’s security. At the same time, all the Palestinians are required to do is make declarations, hold meetings, publish documents, and have photo-ops, including at least one showing they are ‘beginning to destroy tunnel networks,’" said Dr. Aaron Lerner of the IMRA news agency.

He pointed out that the Palestinians already have produced some photos of PA forces pouring cement into tunnels as well as deploying forces, efforts that had no impact on either smuggling or Qassam rocket fire.

Dr. Lerner maintained that, if the US were really serious, it could have required a different set of benchmarks for the Palestinians, such as the destruction of a specific list of "hard targets," including training camps or specifically identified fortifications.

The US plan says nothing about requiring the Palestinians to close down rocket factories or confiscate rockets, weapons, or explosives, or hand over contraband for removal or destruction.

Asked why he thought the American proposal has no real benchmarks for the Palestinians, Dr. Lerner offered two possibilities: The Americans don’t really think the Palestinians can meet any goals, or the Americans "really don’t care."

"Which is worse? In either case, this means the US is proposing that Israel unilaterally increase the exposure of its citizens to terror attacks," he said.

It is suspected that even the minimal security demands on Mr. Abbas could bring a backlash from Hamas and other terrorist groups, which have already stated that they have no intention of complying with the US plan.

"Some of these steps are difficult," said Mr. Abbas’s aid, Saeb Erekat. "But it’s the right approach."

On May 4, officials in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said Israel would not be able to agree to all the demands in the US document, especially the issue of the convoys. Other requirements in the plan, such as the lifting of restrictions on Palestinians’ movements, seem more acceptable, the officials said.

"Some of the ideas in the timetable Israel is already implementing; others are already well advanced; and there are some that Israel will not be able to address at the present because of security concerns," an official in Mr. Olmert’s office said.

The demand for a corridor between PA territories is not new. Such convoys were approved in a deal brokered by Ms. Rice in November 2005 before the Hamas terror organization became the ruling faction of the PA government.

Although Israel faced numerous attacks before Hamas’s election, the number skyrocketed after the terror group took control of the PA in January 2006. Since Hamas has been in power, Gaza has been the site of kidnappings of an IDF soldier, foreign nationals, and Palestinians from many different factions.

In fact, the situation in Gaza has so badly deteriorated that thousands of PA residents are reportedly lining up for visas that will enable them to live in other countries, far away from life under the PA government.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and wounded in the internecine fighting between Hamas and Fatah as they battle for control of the government, despite the unity coalition that was supposed to end the bloodshed.

Reflecting the general consensus that Gaza is simply not safe, many foreign journalists no longer maintain permanent bureaus there, and the Foreign Press Association recently warned its members to avoid on-site coverage in Gaza if at all possible.

Since Hamas took power, a number of reporters have been kidnapped, including journalists from the Associated Press, Fox News, the French Agence France Presse, and others. Some were held for a few hours; others much longer.

On March 12, Alan Johnston, a Scottish national who works as a reporter for the British Broadcasting Corporation and had been in Gaza for three years, was kidnapped and has not been heard from since. In mid-April, a Gaza group, "The Battalions of Jihad and Tawheed in Palestine," said to be allied with the Islamist terror organization Al Qaeda, issued a flyer claiming it had executed Mr. Johnston and promised to release a video showing his murder.

The announcement connected Mr. Johnston’s kidnapping with Israel’s imprisonment of convicted Arab terrorists from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

Beyond the flyer, there has been no further confirmation of Mr. Johnston’s death and no video has been released.

Perhaps one of the major obstacles to the US plan from the Israeli side is the fact that it was Mr. Olmert who agreed to it, and no one knows whether his government will last another week, to say nothing of eight months.

At the end of April, the Winograd Commission, which was established to investigate the government’s mishandling of the Second Lebanon War last summer, issued its findings which severely castigated Mr. Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, who had already resigned.

In the wake of the Winograd Commission’s findings, there have been serious calls from inside the government and from the public, for Mr. Olmert to resign and for new elections to be held.

Mr. Olmert’s support levels in the polls had been hovering at about three percent before the Winograd Commission’s report. Afterwards, they dropped to nearly zero.

The polls also predict that, if Mr. Olmert’s government falls and new elections are called, the Likud party will receive between 30 and 35 Knesset seats, compared to its present representation of 12 MKs. The polls have consistently shown that the head of Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu, is favored to be the next prime minister and that he would have little trouble forming a politically conservative coalition with the National Union/National Religious Party, Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, and a hareidi religious party, such as Shas. The three parties are expected to garner about 30 seats together, easily giving Mr. Netanyahu the necessary 61 seats to form a government.

In addition, a recent poll gave Russian businessman Arkadi Gaydamak’s prospective new party nine seats. Mr. Gaydamak has already forged a political alliance with Mr. Netanyahu.

Asked about his plans, Mr. Netanyahu said he felt ready to reassume the position of prime minister. He said he had learned his lessons from his previous term at the head of the government, and he predicted Mr. Olmert’s government would fall prematurely due to public pressure.

Mr. Netanyahu and the Likud are regarded as much more security-minded than are Mr. Olmert and his government, meaning that a Netanyahu government is more likely to object to any US benchmarks that involve security risks.

Israel’s security establishment has already said the moves required in the benchmark plan would dramatically endanger already vulnerable Israeli civilians who face constant missile launchings from Gaza, suicide bombings, and other terrorist attacks.

According to IMRA’s Dr. Lerner, the new American proposal may be an inadvertent gift to Mr. Olmert.

"At the very moment that many Israelis are focused on getting rid of the rascals, Ms. Rice has provided a common enemy in the form of a one-sided ludicrous proposal for Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to fight on behalf of the Jewish state," he said.

The PA’s problem is that while Mr. Abbas may agree to the US plan, he has, in the past, proven powerless against Hamas, who has already stated its objections to it.

The US blueprint was written by US security coordinator, Major-Gen Keith Dayton; US Ambassador to Israel Dick Jones; and US Consul-General in Jerusalem Jacob Walles.

Ms. Rice approved it before it was presented to Israel and the PA, neither of whom has formally accepted it yet.

Palestinian sources told Ha’aretz that the PA’s Mr. Abbas has accepted the document, but, the sources said, it is feared that Mr. Olmert will "sabotage" it due to his precarious political situation.

If both sides accept the document, its rigid timetable will become a binding agreement.

The bus convoy operating five days a week between the Erez checkpoint at the entrance to Gaza and the Tarqumiya roadblock at the entrance to Hebron is required to be established no later than July 1, 2007.

Even earlier—June 1, 2007—Israel is required to remove specific roadblocks and other traffic and movement restrictions in Bethlehem, Hebron, and Shechem (Nablus).

The document requires the PA to develop a plan against the Qassam rockets no later than June 21, 2007, and Mr. Abbas must deploy his forces against the terrorists by then. Palestinian forces are also required to act to prevent arms smuggling in Gaza in coordination with Israel.

The plan requires Israel and the PA to re-establish coordination and liaison headquarters in Judea and Samaria.

Some Israeli officials expressed dismay at the new plan’s requirement for Israel to transfer or allow others to transfer weapons to the PA. This, too, is not a new idea. In the past, Israel has been encouraged to allow weapons to reach Palestinian leaders who allegedly were going to make efforts to stop terrorism. It never worked, and the weapons that went to the Palestinians usually were eventually used to kill Jews.

In May 2006, weapons given to the PA were used in terrorist attacks that resulted in the death of one Israeli and the wounding of another.

Last December, when another series of weapons were transferred to PA forces loyal to Mr. Abbas, a Palestinian-terrorist leader frankly told the press, "We promise to show Israelis very soon that the weapons brought for [Mr. Abbas’s] Presidential Guard and [PA] security forces will be used against the occupation."

Yuval Steinitz, then chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, predicted that "a lot of IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians will be killed with these weapons."

According to Mr. Olmert’s foreign press adviser, Miri Eisen, benchmarks were not discussed by Messrs. Olmert and Abbas at their meeting in mid-April.

"They certainly discussed the problem that the Palestinians have not addressed the security issue to Israel’s satisfaction at all," Ms. Eisen told Dr. Lerner. She called the halting of Qassam rocket-fire into Israel "a pretty obvious benchmark."

"This is something that comes up at every meeting. And the bottom line is that Israel is not willing to expand—certainly not the ‘non-ceasefire,’" she said.

However, she said, there has been no discussion between the Israelis and Palestinians on any concrete benchmarks that fall into a timeline for achievement.

In the US, the Zionist Organization of America took immediate exception to the "benchmark plan." ZOA president Morton Klein, who is urging Israel to reject the plan, wrote to President George Bush, asking him to revoke it.

Mr. Klein said the plan "entails major Israeli concessions to the unreformed Hamas/PA terrorist regime and will thus endanger Israeli lives."

Mr. Klein pointed out that the plan does not mention the need for the PA to fulfill its commitments under the signed Oslo agreements and the Road Map to jail terrorists, close Palestinian-terrorists’ weapons factories, and end the incitement to hatred and murder which is regularly heard in the PA-controlled media, mosques, schools, and youth camps that feeds terrorism.

"None of these commitments have been fulfilled by the PA," said Mr. Klein.

He pointed out that, in return for many far-reaching concessions by Israel, all the "benchmark plan" requires of the PA is that it deploy security forces and merely "begin curbing rocket fire" into Israel by Palestinian terrorist groups.

"The ‘benchmark plan’ is simply a dangerous mistake that rewards the PA’s promotion of terror and refusal to comply with their signed commitments. It not only fails to hold them accountable for their horrific actions, but sends a message that we are not serious about their compliance with past agreements," said Mr. Klein.

He maintained that because the plan "seeks to launch Israel along the road to major concessions to the PA regardless of the on-going non-fulfillment of PA commitments" to past agreements, the "benchmark plan" is "divorced from reality" and "dangerous to the security and welfare of Israel and its citizens as well as to America and its citizens."

Under these circumstances, he said, the new plan "not only makes a mockery of Israel and US, but sends the message to Al-Qaeda and others murdering Americans in Iraq and elsewhere that terrorism pays."

Mr. Klein also strongly condemned the "benchmark plan" requirement that Israel supply weapons to the PA at the discretion of Maj-Gen Dayton, calling it "an insult to Israeli sovereignty and a danger to Israeli citizens."

"Israel has taken huge risks for peace in the past, handing over all of Gaza and half of Judea and Samaria to the PA, as well as money, assets, and even arms, all of which were simply used to murder and maim more innocent Jewish men, women and children. The very existence of this new timetable for further, dangerous Israeli concessions to the PA, which has done nothing to jail and arrest terrorists or end incitement to hatred and murder within the PA, shows that these realities are simply being ignored by Secretary Rice and her advisers," said Mr. Klein.

He called for the Israeli government to "decisively and utterly reject this plan" and for President Bush to "disown it."

"The ‘benchmark plan’ is simply incompatible with the President’s insistence that he is ‘the best friend Israel ever had,’" said Mr. Klein.