Abbas now

Ehud Olmert is clutching to a straw - Road Map now. He has no other option. The suppression of pro-Iranian terror groups has failed. The new political order in Lebanon is barely enough. The Americans don’t want to hear about the initiation of a diplomatic process with the Syrians. And realignment is out.

The war in Lebanon did not bear the expected fruit. The abductees are still in Lebanon and Gaza. The public doesn't believe in him, his defense minister, or his IDF chief of staff. So what's left? Back to the Road Map.

The series of European figures that landed here last weekend opened the road for Olmert. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov all pulled together to unclog the Palestinian channel.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni traveled to the US this week to discuss, among other things, the Palestinian option. Olmert himself, after his meeting with Blair Saturday night, said: "I'm sticking to my position that the diplomatic process with the Palestinians should continue in accordance with the Road Map."

Low price to pay

Olmert went back to the Road Map because it may provide him with a new agenda for his government. The Road Map may also extract him from the public dissatisfaction across the country, the demand for a full state inquiry, and the demands for his resignation.

The Road Map may also reinstate his mandate in the eyes of world leaders, and particularly George W. Bush, whose support he lost in the Lebanon war. The Road Map, suddenly, looks like the horizon of a new day, much brighter than the current darkness faced by Israel's prime minister.

Olmert, who is familiar with accounting, knows the price he will need to pay in order to maintain the current maneuver is low. All he needs at this time is to say the key words "Road Map" and nothing more.

He doesn't need to commit now to withdraw from the Territories. He doesn't need to evacuate Jewish communities. He doesn't need to pay a political price at the Knesset. He doesn’t need to extend his coalition. He doesn't need to sit down with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

He only needs to say "Road Map" so that the ball moves to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' court and the entire world, and possibly some Israelis, would be lauding him.

Road Map is like clutching to a straw

But the Road Map is like clutching to a straw. Nobody believes, either on the Palestinian or Israeli side, that the dust-covered phased plan would cure this bloody conflict.

Nobody thinks it will make Hamas, or its Iranian patron, disappear. Nobody even believes it will allow for genuine dialogue between Israel and the Hamas government, even if the latter has recently put on a national unity government façade.

But Olmert, as noted above, has no other rabbits in the hat at this time. So let it be the Road Map, until he can find a truly white pigeon.