The situation is complicated by the fact that the nature of the roadmap, which was drawn up by the diplomatic "quartet" of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union and lays out steps to create a Palestinian state by 2005, largely depends on the outcome of the Iraq war.

The issue of the international roadmap once again came to the fore over the last few days following a renewal of efforts by the British government to convince the US President to take a more active role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"(British Prime Minister) Tony Blair needs ... to put pressure on Israel and to pave the way for a renewal of the peace process in the Middle East with the aim of silencing those who have criticised him for being part of the US attack on Iraq," stressed Israeli analyst Gerald Steinberg.

For Blair, it is essential that both London and Washington demonstrate -- largely to the Arab world -- that the war in Iraq has not made them forget the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Bush's proposal that the roadmap be published "soon" was made on Thursday at a joint press conference with Blair at Camp David.

On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted that the West, including Britain, was guilty of acting with "double standards" in demanding the enforcement of UN resolutions in relation to Iraq, but not in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Following the Foreign Secretary's remarks, Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom on Thursday summonded the British ambassador to condemn Straw's "revolting" comments.

"There is no link between the two," an Israeli official told AFP, referring to the Iraq conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Israel, he said, was bearing the brunt of London's attempts to appease the Arab world.

British pressure on Washington over the Mideast conflict reached such a level that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said "the enemy is now Tony Blair", Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported Friday.

Although Sharon has expressed half-hearted approval of the the roadmap, he has made it clear he is not prepared to accept it as it stands.

"Blair is an enemy because he is putting pressure on Bush to present the roadmap as a finished document which cannot be modified, while Sharon is looking at it like an initial outline, a canvas to be filled," the paper said.

However, Israeli government sources appeared confident Friday that Bush would not give in to pressure from Blair over the publication date of the roadmap, nor over Israel's right to request changes to the plan.

"I don't think Bush is going to try and do it as soon as possible," an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity, in reference to the roadmap.

"I don't think it will happen soon."

Blair said Tuesday that the Mideast peace plan would be published after the Palestinian Legislative Council approves a full cabinet under prime minister Abu Mazen, which will take several weeks.

But the Israeli administration believes this will not happen before the end of the US campaign against Iraq, which could take much longer than initially believed.

Israel would "present its remarks" about the roadmap after its publication, the official said, implying that negotiations over the content of the document could take some time.

However, Steinberg said the timetable for publication of the roadmap could be accelerated "if the war in Iraq doesn't go well" for Washington and London.

"That could cause a change of policy which could then put pressure on Israel," he explained, saying that the Jewish State had "reason to be worried".

But he admitted there was another possibility -- that the roadmap, which was due to be initially published on December 20 last year, could "be shelved" along with numerous other peace plans which have punctuated the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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