US to host Mideast talks next week

WASHINGTON-The invitations to next week's Middle East peace conference are out and like a nervous host, the Bush administration is waiting for RSVPs, wondering who will show up and whether they'll get along. After months of intense diplomacy, the White House and State Department announced on Tuesday that the talks would take place next Monday through Wednesday in Washington and Annapolis, Md., aimed at launching the first Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in seven years.But aside from the dates and a cursory schedule, much remains uncertain, including exactly which of the 49 invitees will attend and at what level, and what they will accomplish.The two sides are expected to present a joint statement on resuming peace talks at Annapolis, yet less than a week before their delegations are to arrive in the United States the document exists only in vague form.In addition, the support of key Arab states and other international players on whom the U.S. is counting for support has often been less than enthusiastic.The conference will be anchored around a marathon session Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Academy to be opened by President Bush, who will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and address a dinner of all participants in Washington the day before.Back in Washington on Wednesday, Bush plans to see Olmert and Abbas privately again for a third time in as many days, ostensibly to seal their intent to create a Palestinian state by the end of his second term.The intense White House involvement in a meeting that was planned to be run almost entirely by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when first broached in July took some by surprise and was seen as a sign Bush is hoping for a Mideast foreign policy success before he leaves office."This conference will be a launching point for negotiations leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of Israeli-Palestinian peace," said White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.Aside from Olmert and Abbas, who received their invitations ahead of the 47 other countries, organizations and individuals deemed important enough to attend, there were few immediate public commitments to participate at the foreign minister level that the U.S. wants.Aside from the two main parties, the invitation list includes select members of the Arab League, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, the international diplomatic "quartet" on the Middle East and its special envoy Tony Blair, the Group of Eight industrialized nations and the European Union.In the Muslim world, there has been great suspicion of the conference, with many nations questioning the Bush administration's ability to forge peace, particularly between two leaders-Olmert and Abbas-weakened by internal political turmoil.U.S. officials, led by Bush and Rice-the secretary has made eight trips to the region this year-insist that the talks will be "serious and substantive," not merely a photo op, and also will address the issue of a broader Arab-Israeli peace."We're hopeful and expectant that Arab countries will participate,"David Welch, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told reporters Tuesday."This is a serious effort; it's devoted to a serious purpose."Still, he would not definitively promise that the session will confront issues that have scuttled past peace efforts: the final borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of disputed Jerusalem, and the rights of Palestinians and their descendants who left homes in present-day Israel.Nor could he elaborate on invitations to two Arab powerbrokers-Saudi Arabia and Syria-whose participation is seen as crucial. Neither recognizes Israel, and Syria is especially hostile to the Jewish state.Before the announcement, Bush reached out to nations that could be spoilers for the conference, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi King Abdullah. It was unclear whether either nation would attend.Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was cautious Tuesday as he received Olmert for a meeting ahead of Annapolis, but warned against branding it a failure before it begins."Let's wait for the Annapolis conference and let's not say it is a failure until then," he said. "There are maybe obstacles, but we have to work towards overcoming them."For his part, Olmert appealed to reluctant Arab nations to support the meeting and promised that negotiations would address all issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and take into account a Saudi-sponsored Arab peace initiative-two key concerns of Arab states.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_mideast;_ylt=AtrH61pOoGqGlNbhUtMQd4RI2ocA

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