| Page 2 of 2 < |
Mideast Conference Nears, With Few Plans
President Bush said a conference would be held "this fall," but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has not achieved a consensus among Arabs and Israelis about its topics, and has not set a date or issued invitations.
(By Lawrence Jackson -- Associated Press)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
So Saudi Arabia and other Arab states began to seek a comprehensive package of Israeli steps, including a freeze on settlement growth, the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, the easing of roadblocks and travel restrictions and a halt to the construction of its security barrier in and around the West Bank.
Rice has pushed both sides to adopt confidence-building measures before the meeting in an effort to build momentum and to convince Arabs that their participation is worthwhile. Israel appears poised to announce a freeze on settlement growth and other measures sought by the Saudis. The Palestinians, meanwhile, have deployed police in the West bank city of Nablus in a modest effort to show they are tackling security concerns.
Asked whether Saudi Arabia had made a settlement freeze a condition of its attendance, a senior Israeli official dryly said, "It has not been put to us this way." But he noted that under Israel's interpretation of the road map, a settlement freeze is to come only after the Palestinians take concrete steps to fight terrorism.
Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official and author of the soon-to-be-released book, "The Much Too Promised Land," an account of U.S. efforts to foster peace, said invitations were issued two weeks before the last major international conference on the Middle East, held in Madrid in 1991. He said invitations were issued weeks ahead of another Middle East negotiation session, the 1998 Wye River conference in Maryland.
"I'm not sure any of that speaks to whether it is a consequential event or not," Miller said, suggesting that the proposed talks in Annapolis are mostly necessary to let the world know that substantive peace talks are already taking place.
"Abbas and Olmert have already had more serious discussions on the core issues than any Israeli prime minister and Palestinian president in history," he said. At Annapolis, "Rice will change the channel on the TV that for the last seven years has brought some pretty awful images."
The invitation list has created its own headaches. Administration officials were split over whether to invite Syria, but Rice prevailed in that dispute by suggesting that the United States instead invite an entity called the "follow-up committee" of the Arab League, which happens to include Syria along with nearly a dozen other Arab states. The solution put the burden on Syria to accept without making it look like a diplomatic cave-in to conservatives.
An Arab diplomat said last week the list of invitees could easily reach 50 nations once all diplomatic considerations are addressed.
Every day last week, reporters pestered the State Department's spokesman, Sean McCormack, for an update on the invitations. Each time, he demurred. "Once the invitations are issued, I would expect that most, if not all, of the invitees will reply, 'Yes, we're coming,' " he said Friday. "I think they'll be able to get here."
