Road map's architects must step up pressure.

(From South China Morning Post)

Right-wing members of Israel's Likud Party have defeated a plan for a total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and limited withdrawal from the West Bank - because it was too generous to Palestinians. Their action speaks volumes about how much the situation has degenerated since the road map for peace was introduced this time last year.

The flawed disengagement proposal should have been discarded, but for different reasons from those espoused by the party members who turned out to vote "no". Where much of the world sees a plan that allows Israel's effective annexation of large swathes of the West Bank while leaving the Jewish state …