Roadmap in trouble as Hamas vows to fight on

A week that saw the highest hopes of Middle East peace in two and a half years ended with the process in serious trouble yet again. The Palestinian militant group Hamas warned yesterday that it would continue suicide bombings against Israelis unless the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, retracted the landmark speech he made at the Aqaba summit on Wednesday.

Mr Abbas is in a dilemma. If he cannot stop the suicide bombings, the peace process will probably collapse again. But if he cannot get Hamas to agree to a ceasefire, he will be forced into a direct confrontation with the militants that some Palestinians fear could lead to civil war.

Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, and his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, pledged at Aqaba to implement the "roadmap" peace plan, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel by 2005. A US monitoring team led by John Wolf, a State Department official, and appointed by President Bush to ensure both sides honour their commitments under the roadmap, is expected to arrive in the region as early as today, according to a report on Israeli radio.

In Aqaba, Mr Sharon promised to start removing illegal settler outposts in the West Bank and Mr Abbas pledged to end violence by the Palestinian militants and disarm them.

When Mr Abbas spoke, he was in the midst of negotiations with Hamas, and the group's leaders had indicated that they would be amenable to a temporary ceasefire. But that unravelled quickly. On Friday Hamas abruptly broke off negotiations. Abd al-Aziz Rantisi, a senior figure in the group's political wing, accused Mr Abbas of "giving up all the Palestinians' rights" in Aqaba.

Yesterday Dr Rantisi raised the stakes further, telling the Arab Al-Jazeera television network: "This matter is final unless Mahmoud Abbas retracts his Aqaba speech." But Mr Abbas is in no position to retract a speech he made with President George Bush looking over his shoulder.

The US, which has muscled its way in as effectively the sole backer of the roadmap - although it was drawn up by the Middle East quartet of the US, EU, Russia and the UN - dismissed Hamas's objections. "Those who pursue terror have made it clear they want to prevent peace," said Michael Anton, a spokesman for the US National Security Council. But Mr Abbas is facing a problem. Thousands of Palestinians marched in Hamas's homeland, the Gaza Strip, to protest against the Aqaba summit, chanting: "Abu Mazen, the homeland is not for sale".

But he is not the only one facing opposition at home. Thousands of Jewish settlers marched in Jerusalem earlier this week to protest at Mr Sharon's pledge to evacuate and dismantle settler "outposts" in the West Bank which are illegal under Israeli law - all the settlements are illegal under international law.

Mr Sharon, once the settlers' hero, is now a traitor in some of their eyes, and his security has even been beefed up for fear he may be targeted by Jewish extremist groups - although, in fact, he promised little, making no commitments over settlements authorised by the Israeli government.