U.S. talks on Mideast set, called signal event
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it would hold a stripped-down international conference next week to begin negotiating the core issues that divide the Israelis and Palestinians, the first formal attempt to revive peace talks in seven years.
U.S. officials issued invitations to 49 nations and international organizations for the three-day gathering, to be attended by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The talks are aimed at building support for the wider peace negotiations and laying the groundwork for a Palestinian state in the next 14 months, before President Bush leaves office.
David Welch, the assistant U.S. secretary of State for the Middle East, said the agreement by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to enter formal talks represented a "signal moment" that transforms the outlook for the long-stagnant peace process.
"There is a common understanding that this is the moment in which they can change the picture and get a serious negotiation started," Welch said at the State Department. "And that is hugely important to each of them."
But the two sides are preparing to begin the process without basic agreements on the subjects or ground rules of the talks, leaving prospects uncertain for such a high-stakes diplomatic maneuver. One report Tuesday by the International Crisis Group mirrored wide international concern by concluding that the talks were occurring in a "highly politicized" context, with both Israelis and Palestinians divided among themselves.
"Failure of the negotiations could discredit both leaderships, while further undermining faith in diplomacy and the two-state solution," the think tank's report said.
Casting the gathering in broad terms, Welch said no issue would be off-limits in meetings Monday and Wednesday at the White House and State Department or at the conference itself Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Participants will decide how to continue talks after the Annapolis conference ends.
Bush, who first raised the possibility of a conference in July, helped clear the way for next week's gathering by telephoning two leaders who could play the roles of spoilers -- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Administration officials did not describe the outcome of those calls.
