Annapolis Talks Prompt Much Doubt, a Few Jokes, in Mideast

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Annapolis Hosts Mideast Summit
Representatives from more than 40 countries met in Annapolis, Md., on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007, to discuss the prospects for peace in the Middle East. President Bush said that peace must be pursued because "a battle is underway for the future" of the region "and we must not cede victory to the extremists."

Speaking to Israeli border police recruits at a military base, Avi Dichter, a leader of Olmert's Kadima party and public security minister, said he did not believe Palestinian security forces could dismantle armed Palestinian groups at war with Israel on the timeline set at Annapolis.

Doing so is a central element of the 2003 "road map," to which each side recommitted itself at the conference. Dichter suggested that the end of next year may be just the start.

"I believe that by the end of 2008 we'll have a better idea regarding their performance," Dichter said to reporters at the base. "This could lead to a very positive, significant process."

Commentary in the Arab world was less optimistic. Egypt and other countries that the United States considers moderate went to the talks only because the Bush administration "ordered" them to, said Emad Gad, an analyst with Egypt's al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

"The Arab regimes exported skepticism to their people as self-defense . . . to preempt any popular reaction," Gad said. "Leaders knew Annapolis will not score big goals."

The participation of Saudi leaders, sitting for the first time with Israel in peace talks, was seen as a coup for the Bush administration. Not too much should be made of that, pro-government newspaper editor Jamal Khashoggi wrote in Wednesday's Al-Watan newspaper.

The Saudi kingdom "will have the courage to announce its relinquishing of the Annapolis conference if it decides it is opposed to it, just as it had the courage to attend a conference whose terms the Americans barely managed to define at the last moment," he wrote.

In Iraq, whose government was invited to Annapolis but declined to attend, officials said they were concentrating on Iraq's own problems. "We have a lot to do in Iraq rather than get involved in regional or international issues," said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a top adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the government did not stay away out of solidarity with Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Wednesday renewed predictions of Israel's demise. Even the most "politically doltish individuals" would realize that the talks were "a failure from the beginning," Iran's state news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

Dabbagh noted that Maliki this week signed a major agreement with Bush that would possibly prolong the U.S. presence in Iraq. "If we wanted to follow the footprints of Iran, we would have not have signed any joint declaration with the United States," Dabbagh said. "We have our independent views. This has nothing to do with Iran."

Dabbagh said the Iraqi government "will welcome any agreement between Israel and the Palestinians." His comments reflected a change in tone from the government of Saddam Hussein, who was one of Israel's staunchest opponents in the Arab world and supported Palestinian armed struggle against Israel.

Today, Iraq and Israel share the United States as a key ally while many of Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors are wary of its Shiite-led government and its friendliness with Iran.

"There is a sort of anger among the Palestinians," Dabbagh said. "They supported Saddam, and some still support Saddam."

But Dabbagh added: "We support the current government of Mahmoud Abbas."

Knickmeyer reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Correspondent Sudarsan Raghavan and special correspondent Naseer Nouri in Baghdad and special correspondent Nora Younis in Cairo contributed to this report.