The Middle East diplomatic Quartet (composed of the United States, the European Union, the Russian Federation, and the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nation) authored and put forward its Road Map to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on April 30, 2003. The Road Map outlined steps to be taken by the parties. It was an ambitious plan that dealt with internal Palestinian security, humanitarian assistance, democratic reform, freedom of movement for Palestinians, Israeli military redeployment, and settlement freeze -- all culminating in a permanent status agreement by end of 2005.

Needless to say, none of the parties lived up to their sides of the bargain, the Quartet authors included. Implementation was all but nonexistent and the timetable lapsed, but the Quartet has not given up completely and international declarations still pay homage to the Road Map. This memo should be used as a guide for the Quartet on lessons learned and (if willing) the needed steps to see through the objective set forth three years ago.

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