Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said today his incoming security adviser would prepare unilateral steps that would strip Palestinians of territory should a US-backed peace plan fail.
Word that Mr Giora Eiland, a major general who is leaving the army to head the National Security Council, would flesh out Mr Sharon's "Disengagement Plan" coincided with a resurgence of violence battering the already troubled "road map" to peace.
"We are talking about a new line of redeployment which includes the relocation of settlements and redeployment of army camps and installations in the eventuality that the road map fails," a senior source in Mr Sharon's office said.
"This is not to say that we are vying for or opting for this, it is just preparing for something we don't really want."
Palestinians condemn the Mr Sharon plan as a veiled manoeuvre to impose borders - along the route of a controversial barrier Israel is building inside the West Bank - that would carve up land they want for statehood there and in the Gaza Strip.
The road map prescribes a viable Palestinian state in both territories alongside a secure Israel.
Palestinian Negotiations Minister Mr Saeb Erekat said General Eiland's appointment showed that Israel was "escalating the implementation of unilateral steps in the disengagement plan".
"This will not bring peace," he told reporters.