The hands-off policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that the President set in his first NSC meeting, was abandoned by the fall of 2002. The "road-map," a plan for gradually resuming the peace process and establishing a Palestinian state, was drafted by the quartet of the US, Russia, EU and UN, but its publication was delayed throughout the fall and winter. In a memo dated November 12, 2002, under secretary John Taylor discusses the timetable for publication of the roadmap and other aspects of U.S. policy in the region, including the finances of the Palestinian Authority, a particular area of concern for the Treasury Department. The memo reported that putting the roadmap on hold "could undermine the President's credibility with key allies (all of whom are looking to the US for leadership on this issue) and is therefore not a desirable option." The quartet eventually decided to postpone publication of the roadmap until after the Israeli elections in 2003, at which point it was released and largely ignored by both Arabs and Israelis.