Peace summit to include show of support, but not negotiations - Haaretz

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Wed., September 12, 2007 Elul 29, 5767

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Last update - 04:23 12/09/2007

Peace summit to include show of support, but not negotiations

By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent

The United States will host a Middle East peace conference in Washington, D.C., in November, the week before Thanksgiving, to back its diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-sate solution.

The meeting will seek to win support for arrangements being drafted by prime ministers Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas but will not have any negotiating role.

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e U.S. is delaying sending out invitations to the conference, which President George Bush announced in his July 16 speech on the Middle East, as its existence depends on the results of talks between Olmert and Abbas over the next few weeks.

Both Olmert and the Americans see Saudi Arabia's and the United Arab Emirates' participation at the conference as the primary goal. Jerusalem and Washington believe that if Saudi Arabia agrees to participate, all of the moderate Arab states will follow.

Over the past few weeks, Washington has been urging the Saudis to attend the conference, but has not received a definitive answer yet. The Saudis said they would decide whether to take part and at what level on the basis of the agreements reached between Olmert and Abbas.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who recently took over Israeli-Palestinian affairs, will chair the conference.

Rice and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni initiated the "political horizon" or "shelf agreement" - an agreement whose implementation will be put off until the PA is strong enough to carry out. Olmert agreed to the plan, which is intended to strengthen the Palestinian moderates headed by Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayad, only after Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-Hamas PA unity government's breakup.

Washington officials have begun drafting the agenda for the conference, which is planned to last two days and to center on a joint Olmert-Abbas statement.

The concluding joint statement is expected to again outline the principles for establishing a Palestinian state and suggestions for solving core issues such as defined borders, the Palestinian refugee problem and Jerusalem.

Olmert and Abbas said after their meeting on Monday that they would set up teams to draft the understandings for a two-state agreement.

Rice, who is scheduled to arrive in the region next week, has been urging Olmert to make progress in his talks with Abbas. Abbas has made it clear to the Americans that he would not come to the conference unless he reaches an agreement with Israel on the content of a joint statement.

The Americans are now leading a two-pronged effort to strengthen Abbas - the Washington conference is planned to present the "political horizon," while Quartet envoy Tony Blair and U.S. Security Coordinator Keith Dayton are working to rehabilitate and bolster the PA's security and civilian institutions in the West Bank.

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1.	False article no shelf agreement	05:28	\|	John	12/09/07

2.	This agreement will never succeed	05:29	\|	ralphsrant1	12/09/07

3.	paleolithia-a new state	07:15	\|	Mark	12/09/07

4.	"Horizons" and "Agreements To Agree"	07:48	\|	chet	12/09/07

5.	Something is Rotten in Denmark Here	08:26	\|	ralphsrant1	12/09/07

6.	The back peddling has started!	08:49	\|	Cynical	12/09/07

7.	So it`s only intended as a photo-op, is it?	08:56	\|	Johnboy	12/09/07

8.	If anyone shows up, expectations will have then been exceeded	08:56	\|	Natallie Durson	12/09/07

9.	Destined to fail yet again...	09:04	\|	Jew	12/09/07

10.	To #4 Israel`s West Bank ?	10:38	\|	Andrew Watson	12/09/07

11.	Andrew: The PLO Gave Up All Claims To OUR Judea, Samaria, Gaza	11:50	\|	Yishai Kohen	12/09/07

12.	Fallacy of Summit	12:32	\|	Brod	12/09/07

13.	no 11 ... which world atre u living in...?	13:04	\|	ravi	12/09/07

14.	The post that it was FORBIDDEN to send yesterday (sic!!!)	13:49	\|	J.M.Jordan	12/09/07

15.	Abbas and the PA.	16:15	\|	sandra chitayat	12/09/07

16.	Translation:	17:14	\|	Mark Lincoln	12/09/07

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