WASHINGTON — The Bush administration and its Israeli and Palestinian allies stepped gingerly toward a new round of formal Mideast peace talks Monday, expressing cautious optimism while lowering expectations for the conference.
As officials from about 40 countries convened in Washington for the meeting, arranged to provide an international blessing to the negotiations, President Bush welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to separate White House meetings.
Bush took care to point out that the U.S. role in the upcoming negotiations would be limited.
"The United States cannot impose our vision, but we can help facilitate," said the president, who began the conference by holding a dinner Monday night at the State Department.
After a seven-year hiatus since the last formal talks, Israeli and Palestinian officials hope to complete a deal in the last 14 months of Bush's presidency, using today's centerpiece gathering at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., as a starting point. They will try simultaneously to settle the day-to-day issues governing the relationship and the core disputes of the 59-year-old conflict -- the borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.
The world at large has welcomed the talks but has been cautious because Olmert and Abbas are weak and preside over deeply divided communities. Foreign ministers of all key Arab countries are showing support by attending, but some have expressed concern that the meeting will be more photo op than meaningful exchange.
U.S. officials promised that weeks of private negotiations between the two sides were about to yield a joint document spelling out a "work plan" for peace talks, even as they downplayed the importance of the document. As talks continued into Monday night, however, Israeli and Palestinian officials said they were uncertain that agreement would be reached in time.
Sean McCormack, the chief State Department spokesman, pledged that "there will be a document." He added that he did not consider the document as important as the fact that the meeting had brought together several Middle Eastern states and that it would open the way to formal negotiations.
Abbas and Olmert have major stakes in the conference. If it is seen as yielding nothing, Abbas' rival, the militant group Hamas, will gain stature in the eyes of ordinary Palestinians. Meanwhile, Olmert's rivals on the right contend that the prime minister plans to give away too much, a criticism that has made him cautious in the run-up to the conference.
