The resignation of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was clearly a blow to the prestige of Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The resignation of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas was clearly a blow to the prestige of Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had successfully lobbied for Abbas's installation as a fulfillment of President George W. Bush's promise for "new leadership" in the P.A., the cornerstone of Bush's "road map" for peace in the Middle East. A number of neoconservative commentators outside the administration, such as Joshua Muravchik, had warned of Abbas's weakness and predicted that Powell's strategy was "a road map to nowhere." But Powell's defeat is hardly a victory for the neocons' strongest ally in the White House, Elliott Abrams, head of Middle East policy at the National Security Council. Though initially skeptical, Abrams got fully on board with the road map and had backed the choice of Abbas. With Abbas out, says one source, the administration is "totally out of ideas."