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RAMALLAH,West Bank-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Washington plans to invite six Arab states including Syria to a Middle East peace conference, Abbas's aides said. Abbas's senior aide Nimer Hammad said on Saturday Washington would like Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, plus the Palestinian Authority to attend the U.S.-sponsored conference, expected to be held in November. Rice held talks with Abbas during her sixth visit to the region last week as part of efforts to prod Israel and the Palestinians closer to an agreement ahead of the conference."Rice told President Abbas in their meeting on Thursday that the U.S. plans to invite the Arab states delegated by the Arab League to follow up the Arab peace initiative. These ... states of course include Syria and Lebanon," Hammad told Reuters.Rice did not say who would be invited to the conference, expected to be held in the Washington area, during her visit. Among the six Arab states, only Jordan and Egypt have full diplomatic relations with Israel.The rest link formal ties with the Jewish state to an Israeli withdrawal from Arab land it occupied in 1967. Relations between Israel and Syria are particularly tense after reports that the Jewish state conducted air strikes in Syria this month.Syria has said it was ready to take part in the conference which U.S. President George W. Bush called for in July to try to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. U.S.-Syrian relations have plummeted in recent years amid policy differences over Iraq, Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Doubts have risen recently over the conference amidst Israeli-Palestinian differences over the outcome of the meeting, with Saudi Arabia saying it may not attend unless it addressed all issues and a timetable for peace was agreed in advance.The Palestinians have said it would be difficult for Abbas to attend a conference that other Arab countries boycott."We hope enough progress could be made before the conference in order to encourage Arab states to attend," a senior Abbas aide said.Abbas' aides said the Palestinian leader was coming under pressure from his own Fatah group and from some Arab states to boycott the conference if he failed to get written guarantees on key conditions ahead of the meeting.Those conditions include agreement on a Palestinian state in the West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, with a clear implementation timeline.To read more go to:
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