Not only that the road to peace in the Middle East is uneven, it is leading  nowhere. Since the beginning of the so-called peace process called road-map, not an iota of progress has been made.

Even the semblance of mutual trust, which is the bane of any such process, has not been achieved. Instead, each passing day has drawn the compatriots away from the central theme of negotiations. Who can be blamed for the failure? None other than the initiators of the road-map who began the futile activity without considering the ground realities and historical bearings of the issues involved in the conflict.

A couple of weeks ago Dr Condoleezza Rice had a shuttle visit to the region. She sounded a note of warning as well as despair though veiled under the guise of superficial optimism and claimed to have salvaged the peace process and drawn it back on the track. The road-map plan was started by bypassing the UN to accommodate Israeli-American perception of the Middle East.

Although the US claims to be so, it has not been able to act as an honest broker so far. Rather its policies in the Middle East have proved to be yet another setback to peace in the region. Both Israel and the US are hell-bent not to concede any concession to the people who are the main element of peace in the region.

The road-map was started with ill intentions as the UN, which has been so active in so many regions of the world, was kept away. It was rather a slight to the world intelligentsia that while so many UN resolutions were still pending on Israel, it (UN) was bypassed on the vital question of peace in the Middle East. Further piecemeal approach to peace was adopted which was destined to failure and this fact was overlooked for obvious reasons.

Then, so much construction was done by Israel on the original plan that it really has lost its texture and tantamount to the end of the beginning. The perceived objectives of the initiators of the road-map have largely been  achieved.  In the post-Gulf War period the Muslim Ummah was antagonistic  to the large US and the Western military presence in the region. It was also sharply divided on the question of strike against Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Muslim World had the tacit understanding that the US being militarily present in the region would have less dependence on Israel for  promoting and protecting its interests in the region. Therefore, it understood that the US would exercise its leverage on Israel to force it  concede legitimate concessions to yield peace to the region. It never happened. The Muslim leadership played duck to the Christian fox, or it criminally downplayed or oversimplified the historical facts structuring the  myth of Christian dominance of the world.

Will Israel and the US be interested in continuing the peace process whereas most of their objectives have been achieved without conceding any concession except the cost-effective withdrawal from Gaza Strip? The US influence in the region is envied by other powers: Afghanistan taken good care of; Iraq under occupation, Syria out of Lebanon, Iran under  heavy clouds of US making, West Bank settlements in progress in full swing, Kuwait reeling under political, administrative and economic pressures of American counsellors, Saudi Arabian society under strain, Egypt squarely Americanized.

On top of all, Israel remains the only nuclear power in the region with over 300 nuclear warheads to oversee the political and military developments in the area on behalf of the US. What more do the US and Israel want?

There is no urgency to engage in talks with subject-population of the region. In this background, there is no hope that the road-map can achieve even a semblance of peace for the region. Israel has its own grand design on the region. It is unfortunate that the US has allowed itself to be used as tool by the Zionist entity in promoting its nefarious ambitions against the peace loving peoples of the world. What the US should do? It is a pertinent question and answers the most important feature of the Middle  East tangle.

The US should help the parties to bring the issue to the UN. Although it has not been successful at times, the UN has been active in almost every issue confronting the world peace. The singular exception is Israel. Why is the UN being neutralized while dealing with matters concerning Israel? Why the UN resolutions 242, 298, 425 and 338 are not being implemented? Why an appropriate action under Chapter VII of the UN Charter is not taken?

The scenario leads to one simple conclusion: the initiator of road-map bears a heavy judgement on its sincerity. The so-called road-map can achieve nothing. It is not meant to. The US will do a great favour to the world community and the peace in the Middle East if it re-initiates the peace process under the aegis of the United Nations.